What to Do When That Primary Ballot Arrives in Your Mailbox

If you're registered to vote in Colorado, start checking your mailbox: Ballots for the June 28 primary were mailed on June 6.

If you're registered with a major political party, you'll get the ballot of that party. If you're registered to vote but not affiliated with a political party, you should receive two ballots: one for the Republican Party and one for the Democratic Party. But you're only allowed to cast one of the two ballots.

In 2016, Coloradans approved Proposition 108, which allowed unaffiliated voters to vote in the primary. In February a group of Republicans, including state Representative Ron Hanks, who is running for the U.S. Senate, asked a judge to prevent Secretary of State Jena Griswold from enforcing it — but that lawsuit was dismissed in April after the judge ruled that Prop 108 didn't pose enough harm to warrant blocking it.

About 44.4 percent of Denver's registered voters (both active and inactive) are unaffiliated, 43.5 percent are Democrat, and 10.2 percent are Republican, according to denvergov.org. In Colorado as a whole, 27.5 percent of registered voters are Democrat, 24.6 percent are Republican, and 44.5 percent are unaffiliated.

You can register to vote up to and even on election day as long as you've lived in Colorado for at least 22 days before the election — which means if you moved here by June 6, you can vote in the primary if you register. You can do that at govotecolorado.gov, but June 20 is the last day to register online if you want to receive your ballot (or ballots, if you're unaffiliated) in the mail; after that, you'll need to show up at an official voting location.

June 20 is also the last day you can mail in a ballot to ensure that it is received by the deadline of 7 p.m. on election day. After that, you can drop it in a 24-hour drop-off box (see a map here) or at a mobile voting location. You can also vote in person through election day, as long as you're in line by 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 28.

To register, check your voting status or sign up to track your ballot, go to govotecolorado.gov.