So far, few election hitches reported

Today is Election Day. But do you know how and where to vote? Are you encountering problems at the polls?

To find a polling place, both the major parties have systems where you can type in your address and get a list of nearby polling places.

For the Democratic site, click here. For the Republican site, click here.

So far today, the Secretary of State’s office and the Colorado Democrats report few if any problems. A Republican Party spokesperson did not immediately return a call.

Early this morning some problems were reported in Arapahoe County, where boxes that were supposed to be available for people to drop off mail-in ballots were not available.

Arapahoe County Clerk Nancy Doty told The Colorado Independent that only five locations out of about 200 were missing the boxes and that boxes were brought to those locations as quickly as possible. She thought four of the locations had their boxes within an hour and the fifth soon after. For a list of Arapahoe County drop-off sites, click here for a pdf.

Rich Coolidge, communications director for the Secretary of State’s office, said that was the only problem he had heard about as of 1:15 pm today. A Democratic Party spokeswoman also said that was the only problem she had been aware of so far today.

Coolidge said anyone encountering a problem voting should contact their county clerk’s office. If that proves difficult, he said they could also call the Secretary of State’s office at (303) 894-2200.

The State Democratic Party also has a hot line that people can report problems to.

The number: (866) 35-VOTER (866-358-6837).

In the case of voter harassment, the hot line will offer guidance and in-person assistance to ensure all voters feel safe while voting. So far, there have no cases of harassment reported.

“We don’t expect any problems,” said a voter protection hot line attendant, who did not want to be named. “But the hot line is there just in case voters are feeling the need for some extra assistance or are feeling harassed while casting their ballots.”

Taran Volckhausen contributed to this report.

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Scot Kersgaard has been managing editor of a political newspaper, editor and co-owner of a ski town newspaper, executive editor of eight high-tech magazines (where he worked with current Apple CEO Tim Cook), deputy press secretary to a U.S. Senator, and an outdoors columnist at the Rocky Mountain News. He has an English degree from the University of Washington. He was awarded a fellowship to study internet journalism at the University of Maryland's Knight Center for Specialized Journalism. He was student body president in college. He spends his free time hiking and skiing.

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