Gov. Jared Polis has issued guidance for the more than 100 local elections scheduled for April 7, asking for polling places to be sanitized frequently and having elections personnel wash their hands to protect residents who need to vote in person.

“For the few elections that are not conducted via mail ballot, and for voters who desire to participate in an election but have misplaced or not received their ballots,” Polis wrote, “I also encourage municipalities to remain apprised of any CDC recommendations.”

The governor pointed to the Colorado Municipal League’s advice to localities, which notes that home rule jurisdictions may change the date of their elections depending on their charter language, and that absentee ballot requests that arrive after the deadline may be fulfilled in emergencies.

“If the deadline has passed to change your election from a polling place to a mail ballot election, clerks could choose to send all voters absentee ballot applications which, when they return them, will then allow you to send them absentee ballots,” the League told clerks. “If you take this route, and you must do it quickly, you need to send them instructions on what to do.”

Governments do not have to open their town hall or city hall for voting, although they may need to if there is no alternate polling location. Only an election judge can change a polling location close to Election Day. The secretary of state has no authority over municipal elections by themselves.

Karen B. Goldman, who provides elections training for municipal clerks, estimated that more than half of the jurisdictions voting on Tuesday will do so without mail-in ballots. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory for elections in March, she began to talk with clerks about how to adjust.

“For the really, really small towns, it’s more financially feasible” to vote in person, she said. “We asked them to look at really pushing the notion of absentee ballots.”

Other recommendations included moving polling centers to large rooms that enabled distancing, limiting voters to one at a time inside the room, or segregating entrances and exits. Some municipalities will have a drive-through lane, and at least one, Idaho Springs, has obtained face masks from its police department for staff and election judges.

“The police department has already committed to them,” Goldman said.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.