Summer is winding down, and the race for the White House is heating up. But for voters, who should be the next president isn’t the only question to answer. Many have another important choice to make – whether or not to leave their labor union.

With the addition of West Virginia this year, a total of 26 states have passed “right-to-work” legislation. These laws take away a union’s ability to fire or impose penalties on a worker for not paying the union.

But in the other 24 states – like Colorado – union workers still have more rights than they might realize. Colorado has some of the most unique labor laws in the country as a result of the state’s 1943 Labor Peace Act. Under this law, unions must hold two separate elections in order to make dues mandatory in a workplace. This affords workers greater ability to resist having a portion of their paycheck forcibly removed for representation they may or may not want.

Moreover, for public employees in unionized workplaces – like public school teachers – there exist other avenues to avoid supporting the union political agenda against one’s will. Teachers can opt out of the political portion of union dues and become so-called “agency fee payers,” in which they pay only for the collective bargaining representation and not the political agenda.

Unfortunately, this information typically isn’t made readily available by labor unions. In fact, some unions make the opt-out process difficult by restricting opt-outs to certain windows each year, and bury that information deep in lengthy collective bargaining agreements many teachers never read in detail.

In Jefferson County, teachers can only become agency fee payers from September 1 to September 15. In Denver, they can do so from November 1 to November 15. In Alamosa, teachers are given just ten days, from September 10 to September 20. If they miss this window, they are forced to advance the union political agenda against their will until next year.

That’s why National Employment Freedom Week, which took place Aug. 14-20, was critical.

NEFW is a grassroots campaign of more than 100 groups in 35 states, educating citizens of their state-specific workplace rights – namely, the right to stop paying their unwanted union completely or opt-out of paying at least a portion of their union dues. Americans for Prosperity – Colorado is proud to support that effort.

A nationwide survey conducted by the Nevada Policy Research Institute found that over 37 percent of Colorado’s union households would opt out of union membership if it were possible to do so without losing their job or facing other penalty. A separate poll conducted by Rasmussen found that just two in ten voters believe union bosses do a “good job” representing members.

Furthermore, many workers disagree with their unions’ political activity. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, more than 90 percent of union political spending went to Democrats in the last presidential election cycle, but 40 percent of union households supported Mitt Romney.

No worker should be compelled to bankroll a private organization that is not meeting their needs and is pushing an agenda he or she does not believe in. Unfortunately, over thirty percent of Colorado’s union households are unaware that they are free to opt out of union dues without facing penalty.

But educating the workers poses a threat to unions and their ability to influence the political process, and so unions leave those they are supposed to represent in the dark about the rights available to them.

Many teachers who are aware that these rights exist choose to stay in the union because of the benefits offered. But there are other options; for less than $17 a month, teachers can join the Association of American Educators or the Professional Association of Colorado Educators. These memberships cost a fraction of the price of union dues. That’s a lot of money that could be put toward groceries, utilities, or a family vacation.

If union employees decide that union membership gives enough bang for the buck, that’s okay too. But for those who wish to represent themselves and not advance the union political agenda, the National Employee Freedom Week coalition is here to help navigate the opt-out process. Americans for Prosperity and the NEFW coalition is letting the secret out – that employees have more control over their hard-earned money than they might realize.

Michael Fields is the Colorado State Director of Americans for Prosperity.