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Tag: El Paso county

Colorado Springs Braces For Space Force Growth And Infrastructure Demands
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Approved, Local, The Gazette

Colorado Springs Braces For Space Force Growth And Infrastructure Demands

By Mary Shinn | The Gazette As the Space Force prepares to double in size over the next five years, Peterson Space Force Base will need additional space and people to support the growth. The intense period of expansion is expected even as Space Command headquarters relocates to Huntsville, Ala., because it is a small piece of all the space operations in town. Peterson Space Force Base and Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station employ about 8,200 active-duty troops, civilians and contractors and have a combined payroll of $837 million, according to a Tuesday presentation by Col. Kenneth Klock, commander of the Space Base Delta 1. The combined economic impact of the two bases is about $2.6 billion, per the report. The entire Space Force employs about 10,000 people in specialized r...
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Homelessness Rises In El Paso And Teller Counties As Statewide Numbers Fall
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Approved, Axios, Local

Homelessness Rises In El Paso And Teller Counties As Statewide Numbers Fall

By Glenn Wallace | Axios Homelessness in El Paso and Teller counties rose in 2025, even as statewide numbers declined slightly, according to a statewide report released Monday. Why it matters: The increase is adding strain to local shelters and housing programs even as much of Colorado saw modest improvement. Driving the news: Colorado's State of Homelessness Report counted 7,078 people experiencing homelessness in the Pikes Peak region in 2025, up from 6,787 the year before. Local service providers saw demand jump nearly 19% year over year, helping 16,245 people in 2025. Meanwhile, homelessness declined slightly in Denver, northern Colorado and statewide overall. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT AXIOS
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State Regulators Override Elbert County To Advance Massive Power Line Project
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Local

State Regulators Override Elbert County To Advance Massive Power Line Project

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) recently sided with Xcel Energy in overriding Elbert County’s denial of a permit for the monopoly utility’s $1.7 billion power line project. The decision was based on a rarely used state statute. As previously reported by Complete Colorado, both Elbert and El Paso counties previously denied Xcel’s permit request to build a massive transmission line that slices directly through Colorado’s Eastern Plains. Colorado’s Power Pathway Project is 550-mile line connecting wind and solar energy generated in eastern counties to Denver metro-area communities. The project is a vital part of Governor Polis’ ambitious, though increasingly unrealistic mandate for 100% renewable energy ...
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Cleaning the rolls, cutting the cost: How Las Animas County found a better way
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Cleaning the rolls, cutting the cost: How Las Animas County found a better way

By Bob Cooper, COIFFE Director | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Clerk and Election team in Las Animas County also adopted a “best practice” to improve Colorado Elections while reducing costs. We now have our largest Colorado county (El Paso County) and a medium-sized county (Las Animas) using a commercial credit agency to flag registered voters who no longer reside at the address in SCORE. SCORE is the Statewide Colorado Voter Registration and Elections system.        These two counties demonstrate leadership by pursuing real “Gold Standard” election operations.  Every Colorado voter should demand other counties implement this best practice because it significantly reduces costs associated with undeliverable ballots while at the same time reduces the opportuni...
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A system under scrutiny: Colorado’s election system faces clash over how it’s verified
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

A system under scrutiny: Colorado’s election system faces clash over how it’s verified

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice When President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to compile a nationwide citizenship list and share it with state election officials, it set off a debate in Colorado that hasn’t slowed. So what does that actually mean for Colorado? RMV asked two people on opposite sides of the issue—and got two very different answers. Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association (CCCA), says Colorado’s system is strong, continuously maintained and already uses the federal tools referenced in the order. Bob Cooper, a director with the Colorado Institute for Fair Elections, argues the system cannot be independently audited for accuracy—and that’s the problem. The divide isn’t about whether the system w...
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El Paso Co. found a way to cut undeliverable ballots and clean voter rolls—Colorado leaders looked away
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

El Paso Co. found a way to cut undeliverable ballots and clean voter rolls—Colorado leaders looked away

By Bob Cooper, COIFFE Director | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice A $50,000 statewide solution was offered—and ignored—while Colorado processed more than 323,000 undeliverable ballots in a single year, costing over a million. This story should get your attention and maybe even make you angry if you care about election integrity issues—or simply about wasting taxpayer dollars in every county in Colorado. Get this: El Paso County has been implementing a common-sense voter roll maintenance process, a true “Gold Standard” process, to reduce election costs and clean up the “dirty,” bloated voter rolls. There is potential for this improved process to save thousands of dollars in election costs every year for every county in Colorado. To help the state implement this, El...
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Federal order puts Colorado’s mail ballot system on a collision course
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Federal order puts Colorado’s mail ballot system on a collision course

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The way Colorado runs elections hasn’t changed—but a new federal order could force it to. The order would have federal agencies assemble a nationwide list of verified U.S. citizens and share it with state election officials. States could then choose to send their own voter lists to the U.S. Postal Service about 60 days before an election. If they do, ballots would be limited to the names on those lists. In Colorado, that framework could fundamentally change how elections work. Colorado’s system leaves very little room to miss your chance. Ballots go out to every active voter—even those who register just days before Election Day. And for anyone who doesn’t, same-day registration still allows them to walk in and vote right up until po...
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El Paso Co. clerk resigns leadership role and pulls county from clerks association over transparency concerns
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Ashe in America, Approved, Commentary, State

El Paso Co. clerk resigns leadership role and pulls county from clerks association over transparency concerns

By Ashe in America | Commentary, Ashe in America The CCCA is a Non-Governmental Organization that Generally Serves as the Authority on Colorado Elections El Paso County Clerk & Recorder Steve Schleiker has quietly resigned as Vice President of the Colorado County Clerks Association (CCCA), and he has withdrawn El Paso County from active membership in the non-governmental organization. Schleiker was candid about his decision in an email with a Colorado voter who reached out after noticing his name had been removed from the CCCA leadership list. “After careful consideration, I made the decision several weeks ago to resign as Vice President of the Colorado County Clerks Association and to withdraw El Paso County from active membership. This was not a decision I made li...
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Democrat Backed Redistricting Plan Could Flip Three Colorado GOP House Seats
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Uncategorized, Approved, Colorado Politics, State

Democrat Backed Redistricting Plan Could Flip Three Colorado GOP House Seats

By Michael Braithwaite | Colorado Politics A Democrat-backed proposal to redraw Colorado’s congressional map for the 2028 election could flip three Republican districts. The proposal, introduced by a group called Coloradans for a Level Playing Field, is yet another development in a national redistricting debate after President Donald Trump called to redraw U.S. House districts. An analysis of the proposal in Colorado shows that the redrawn map could lead to flipping three Republican house seats to the Democrats’ column in the 2028 election, including in District 5, which has never voted for a Democratic representative in its long history, according to composite election data. Colorado’s 2021 congressional district map (left) compared to Coloradans for a Leve...
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Colorado Lawmakers Move To Rein In Utility Eminent Domain After Xcel Land Dispute
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Move To Rein In Utility Eminent Domain After Xcel Land Dispute

By: Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics After months of backlash over Xcel Energy’s use of eminent domain in eastern Colorado, lawmakers representing Elbert and El Paso counties are advancing legislation that would bar utilities from initiating property takings until they’ve secured state approval and all required local permits — a move supporters say will restore fairness and prevent landowners from being forced into legal limbo. House Bill 1278, sponsored by Rep. Chris Richardson, R-Elizabeth, and Sens. Marc Snyder, D-Colorado Springs, and Rod Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells, would require utilities to receive a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Public Utilities Commission, as well as all necessary local land use approvals and permits, before initiating em...
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