Colorado voters in all 64 counties have the opportunity to track their ballots for the 2022 General Election using BallotTrax, a program first implemented statewide in Colorado in 2020.

“Statewide ballot tracking allows voters to follow their ballot from the time it is sent by their local County Clerk’s office to when it is counted,” said Secretary Griswold. “I encourage all Colorado voters to take advantage of this program during the 2022 General Election in Colorado.”

Statewide ballot tracking enables voters to receive a limited number of notifications by phone, email, or text about the status of their mail ballot, from the time it is mailed to the voter to when it is received and accepted for counting. As of July 2022, nearly 2 million Colorado voters were enrolled in BallotTrax — 52% of the electorate.

Counties began mailing ballots to active registered voters Tuesday, October 17, and many existing BallotTrax users have already received status updates on their ballots. Military and overseas ballots for the General Election were sent by September 24, 2022.

Voters can enroll themselves in BallotTrax by going to GoVoteColorado.gov and clicking on “Sign up for BallotTrax.”

For more information on Colorado’s 2022 General Election, to register to vote, or update your voter registration, please visit www.GoVoteColorado.gov

On the evening of October 12, 2022, the Northern Colorado Drug Task Force partnered with local agencies to conduct a criminal and narcotics interdiction event.  In an attempt to curb drug distribution and address public safety issues over 40 law enforcement officers cooperated in this effort.  As a result, numerous traffic contacts were made resulting in the following:

• One individual was contacted and arrested for having over ½ pound of suspected methamphetamine and narcotics distribution equipment
• An individual was contacted and found to be in possession of suspected fentanyl and drug paraphernalia
• One stolen vehicle was recovered
• Six individuals were contacted and arrested for outstanding warrants
• One individual was arrested for suspected DUI
• One individual was arrested after found to be violating a protection (restraining) order
• One individual was arrested after driving with a revoked license as a Habitual Traffic Offender
• 54 contacts for traffic safety violations were made

In Larimer County interest continues to accrue on all unpaid property taxes and is subject to advertising and distraint fees. According to county officials, the timely receipt of property taxes is essential to the effective delivery of services to citizens by our county health department, fire districts, cities, towns, and special districts and local law enforcement agencies. The Larimer County Tax Lien Sale is scheduled for Nov. 17, 2022, and held to collect these unpaid taxes, to meet the budgetary requirements of all certified taxing authorities.

Cash or certified funds will be required for payment after Oct. 31, 2022.  If this applies to you, you may mail payments to Larimer County Treasurer & Public Trustee, P.O. Box 2336, Fort Collins, CO 80522 or drop it off in our secure 24-hour drop box at 200 W. Oak St., Fort Collins. To ensure proper credit, please reference your schedule number on your check and include your payment coupon. More information about these options can be found at larimer.org/treasurer/pay.

If you have an escrow account with your mortgage company for property taxes and have questions regarding their payment, please contact them for further information.

If you have not received your Larimer County property tax statement for 2021 taxes payable in 2022 or have any other questions, call the Larimer County Treasurer’s Office at 970-498-7020, email at [email protected], or use the chat feature at larimer.org/treasurer.

During the weekend of October 8 and 9 the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office had 505 incidents entered into their dispatch system between Friday late afternoon and the end of Sunday.

In a LCSO social media post it was stated that this number of incidents is consistent with their current weekend calls over the last several months. This number of calls breaks down to around a call every six minutes for their services. The post continued by saying, “What is not reflected in that stat is that these incidents do not come to us in an orderly progression with an even amount of time between each. Our Communications Center handles every call, every radio transmission, and coordinates with other agencies during complex, resource-intensive incidents, often happening all at once.”

During that weekend LCSO had 3 separate vehicle pursuits that resulted in the recovery of 3 stolen vehicles. On Saturday dispatchers coordinated responses to two simultaneous fires including evacuations while also handling the normal activity of patrol deputies as well as an incident in Wellington that involved a man calling 911 stating he had just killed a woman and child.  When deputies arrived, they contacted the woman and child outside the home where they learned he had pointed a gun at both. Deputies surrounded the home where the man eventually surrendered to police.

The post continued by saying, “…we are extremely proud of our deputies, dispatchers, and volunteers who rise to the occasion every day to serve the people of Larimer County.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) this week announced that distressed borrowers with qualifying USDA farm loans have already received nearly $800 million in assistance, as part of the $3.1 billion in assistance for distressed farm loan borrowers provided through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA directed USDA to expedite assistance to distressed borrowers of direct or guaranteed loans administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) whose operations face financial risk.

The announcement kicks off a process to provide assistance to distressed farm loan borrowers using several approaches, with the goal of keeping them farming, removing obstacles that currently prevent many of these borrowers from returning to farming, and improving the way that USDA approaches borrowing and servicing. Through this assistance, USDA is focused on generating long-term stability and success for distressed borrowers.

“Through no fault of their own, our nation’s farmers and ranchers have faced incredibly tough circumstances over the last few years,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “The funding included in today’s announcement helps keep our farmers farming and provides a fresh start for producers in challenging positions.”

Work has already started to bring some relief to distressed farmers. As of today, over 13,000 borrowers have already benefited from the resources provided under the Inflation Reduction Act as follows including 11,000 delinquent direct and guaranteed borrowers had their accounts brought current and approximately 2,100 borrowers who had their farms foreclosed on and still had remaining debt had their debt resolved.

In addition to the automatic assistance already provided, USDA has also outlined steps to administer up to an additional $500 million in payments to benefit direct loan borrowers who used FSA’s disaster-set-aside option during he pandemic. The USDA is also initiating a case-by-case process to provide additions assistant to farm loan borrowers.

More details on each of the categories of assistance, including a downloadable fact sheet, are available on the Inflation Reduction Act webpage on farmers.gov.