It is too late to trust a ballot to the mail. A ballot counts only if it reaches the El Paso County clerk by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3; a postmark does not count. Thirteen official drop-off sites lie between the county line and Woodmen Road, and the map below shows each one.
Colorado judges a mail ballot by when it arrives, not when it was sent. The El Paso County Clerk and Recorder must have it in hand by 7 p.m. on Election Day. A ballot that arrives later is not counted, whatever its postmark says. (Military and overseas voters have separate rules.) The U.S. Postal Service advises mailing a ballot at least a week before it is due, which for this election meant by Tuesday, Oct. 27. The state’s own voter site, GoVoteColorado.gov, now tells voters to take their ballots to a drop box or voter center and not to mail them.
That leaves two ways to return one: a 24-hour drop box, or a voter service and polling center, the county’s term for its in-person voting sites. Every polling center also takes completed mail ballots, and the county says a voter may use any of them.
Where to take it
The county’s list has no box or polling center in Palmer Lake. The closest, measured from the middle of town, are the first three on the list, in Monument and Woodmoor.
When they are open
Drop boxes take ballots around the clock until 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Four of those on the map are drive-up: the two park-and-rides, the Rampart Range campus and Library 21c.
Polling centers are open Monday, Nov. 2, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Anyone in line when the polls close at 7 p.m. may still vote, however long the line takes.
Before you drop it off
Sign the envelope. A ballot with a missing signature, or one that does not match the signature on file, is rejected unless the voter fixes it. The county must send those voters a letter no later than Thursday, Nov. 5, and they have until 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12, to respond. That window runs a day longer than usual because its last day would otherwise fall on Veterans Day.
Carrying ballots for others is limited. The county’s list notes that it is against the law for one person to collect more than 10 voted ballots for delivery in an election.
Lost, damaged or never arrived? It is too late to have a replacement mailed; the last day was Oct. 26. Any polling center will issue a new ballot or let you vote in person.
Not registered, or moved? You can still register or update your registration at a polling center through Election Day, and vote there. Everyone who votes in person must show identification; a Colorado driver’s license or state ID is the most common.
Leaving a race blank is fine. The rest of the ballot still counts.
Track it. BallotTrax, the county’s tracking service, sends alerts as a ballot moves from mailed to counted. GoVoteColorado.gov also shows a mail ballot’s status.
Questions go to El Paso County Elections at (719) 575-8683.
What is on the ballot
The Independent’s elections page lists the local races and measures on Tri-Lakes ballots, with links to its profiles of the Monument and Palmer Lake mayoral candidates and its analysis of Monument’s Ballot Issue 2B. Counties may not release any results until after the polls close at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Sources & further reading
The Independent’s own coverage: Elections 2026, the local contests, statewide measures and our candidate profiles.
El Paso County: 2026 General Election secure ballot boxes and voter service and polling centers (PDF) · Voting and Returning My Ballot · Voter Service & Polling Centers open for the general election (Oct. 19) · BallotTrax
Colorado Secretary of State: 2026 Election Calendar (PDF) · Mail-in ballots FAQ · Election Day FAQ · Rejected ballots FAQ · GoVoteColorado.gov
U.S. Postal Service: Election Mail
Methodology
The map shows every 24-hour drop box and every voter service and polling center on the El Paso County clerk’s 2026 general election list between the Douglas County line and Woodmen Road. From the Pike National Forest to eastern Black Forest, that is 13 sites. Which sites are boxes, which are polling centers and which boxes are drive-up are as the county’s list gives them.
Locations come from the county’s own GIS layers of drop boxes and polling centers. The polling-center layer dates from an earlier election, so it was used only for sites on the 2026 list. Black Forest Lutheran Church, which is not in that layer, was placed from OpenStreetMap. Every location was checked against at least one independent source (Census Bureau or OpenStreetMap geocoding, or the county Assessor’s parcel record), and each pair agreed to within a quarter of a mile. The closest sites to Palmer Lake were found by straight-line distance from the middle of the town’s limits. Town limits, the Air Force Academy, the national forest and the county line come from El Paso County GIS; roads and lakes are from OpenStreetMap.
Using this reporting? Credit The Monument Independent and link to this article: https://monumentindependent.com/government/tri-lakes-ballot-drop-boxes-2026/. Our guidelines are at Using Our Reporting.
