(COLORADO) — Voters across Colorado are receiving their 2024 Presidential Primary ballots, but some voters in the state receive two.

Unaffiliated, sometimes called independent voters, are voters who are not registered members of any specific political party. Until 2018, unaffiliated voters could not vote in primary elections in Colorado, but that changed when voters approved Proposition 108, which allows unaffiliated voters to cast a ballot in the primaries.

Unaffiliated voters can indicate which political party’s ballot they would like to receive at the time of their registration, or if they choose not to do so, they will receive a ballot packet from the county clerk and recorder that contains the ballots of all the major political parties for both presidential and nonpresidential primaries.

Initially, legislation allowed for combined primary election ballots that listed the primary elections for all offices for both major parties. However, Senate Bill 17-305 and Senate Bill 18-233 removed the provisions related to the use of combined primary election ballots.

So instead of receiving a combined primary election ballot, unaffiliated voters receive both Democratic and Republican party ballots, and should vote and return only one. If a voter returns both ballots voted, neither will count.

The El Paso County Clerk and Recorder announced on Feb. 12 that ballots had begun to be mailed out for the primary election. Once you have filled out a ballot for one major political party, you can drop it off at any ballot drop box location or mail it back. You can find your nearest ballot drop box through the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office website, or by contacting your local clerk and recorder’s office.

Voters may also return their ballot through the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) by affixing adequate postage to their return envelope. The Clerk’s Office recommends that voters do not return their voted ballot by mail after Feb. 26.

Once you have returned your ballot, you can track its progress and receive notifications when it has been received and counted by signing up for BallotTrax. The El Paso County community can also access 24/7, motion-triggered ballot drop box security cameras by visiting www.epcvotes.com.

All voted ballots must be returned to the Clerk and Recorder’s Office by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, March 5, to be counted.