AURORA | Voters headed to the polls this Nov. 4 have a whopper of a ballot to consider.

There are 10 different citizen-sponsored measures, the most since 1972. On top of that, there’s county comissioner races, state senate and house races and, in case you haven’t been paying attention, a historic presidential election.

With all of the issues, candidates and races on the ballot, officials from voter advocacy groups around the state are encouraging folks to get out early to vote.

AARP Spokeswoman Morie Smith said they have also made a push to their 700,000-plus members in Colorado to get out early.

Another push by the AARP, which is non-partisan, has been with newly-naturalized citizens. The group has been setting up tables at naturalization ceremonies to get the word out on how people can vote.

Otherwise, Smith said they have not taken out any paid TV or radio spots.

“We aren’t going out and doing a lot of paid effort,” she said. “But we certainly have been, any chance we have to percolate the issues up to the voters.”

The Leauge of Women Voters in Colorado has also begun their push to inform voters, said Marge Fisch, League of Women Voters board member.

The organization has published their pros and cons section on the ballot initiatives both on their website and in the Front Porch newsletter distributed across the city.

The group has also put up candidate profiles on their website and has held speaking engagements with groups across the state to inform voters on the issues and races.

Both the AARP and the LOWV have encouraged voters to get their mail-in-ballot in early.

Both presidential campaigns have also begun a push to get voters to the polls.

“We are out there every single day across the state talking to voters and making sure they are going to sign up for a mail in ballot or participate in early voting,” said Stephanie Mueller, Colorado Communications Director for the Obama campaign. “That is a big focus.”

She said they have worked hard to rally the younger voters in the state.

“This campaign has always been about including people in the political process that haven’t really participated before,” she said. “We have seen that on the ground here in Colorado. There are more voters in Colorado under 30 than there are over 60. We have gotten a really strong reaction from young voters.”

Mueller said the state Democrats will be holding a number of events across the state over the next few weeks, such as ballot house parties where people can fill out their ballots together.

Ryan Call, political director and in-house legal counsel for the Colorado GOP, said they have been organizing volunteers to get the word out about their candidates — unlike the Obama campaign, he says, which hires many more staffers.

“We have got a very ambitious and well organized effort,” he said. “The specifics of that are not something I’m able to talk about. We are doing it through volunteer phone calls, walking precincts. There’s not a lot of rocket science involved in this, but the most influential impact is neighbors talking to neighbors.”

Arapahoe County Clerk and Recorder Nancy Doty said she is expecting a record voter turnout this year.

“I’m expecting 95 percent,” she said.

That’s up from about 93 percent in 2004, the last presidential election.

She said that her office is already receiving more than 1,000 phone calls a day from people with questions about the election.

“We’re very, very busy,” she said.

Doty said that rather than calling the clerk’s office, the best thing voters can do is go online to www.arapahoevotes.com, where they can find information about where to vote, how to get a mail-in ballot and where to drop it off.

The ballot will be two cards long, Doty said, when usually it is only one card, so election officials are anticipating long lines at the polls.

Adams County Voter Information
303-920-7850

Arapahoe County Voter Information
303-795-4511