For Colorados Next Drivers License Design: How Voting Works & How to Win

Who votes and why the Colorado license design ballot matters

For Colorados Next Drivers License Design is a statewide public vote run by KDBN, the radio station behind 95rockfm.com. Its subject is not a business, a restaurant or a person but the physical license in nearly every adult Coloradan's pocket: the state driver's license. When Colorado refreshed its license artwork, the station handed the choice of image to listeners, framing it as a chance to make Colorado history by picking the picture every Coloradan will carry around in their wallets.

The audience, in other words, is the whole state. Anyone with a Colorado license has a stake in the result, and the ballot is promoted to the station's radio audience rather than to a single city or county. Because KDBN hosts the vote on its own domain, supporters follow a link from the station's programming to a page that belongs to the station itself. The ballot sits at the station's vote page.

Structurally the program behaves like a best-of ballot: one short voting window, one decision, and a public outcome. It differs from a readers poll in that there is a single subject on the line instead of a list of categories, which makes the window the most important thing a supporter needs to track.

Key facts

The dated record for the Colorado license design vote

Five edition years are confirmed: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. The program has therefore run as a recurring statewide fixture rather than a one-off stunt, with each edition hosted at the same KDBN address. The first of those years carries the only fully dated window: voting ran February 1 through February 5, 2021, and the station told readers, "You only have a few days to vote, since the poll closes on February 5." That five-day shape is the defining constraint of this ballot.

What the station has not put on the page is the category structure of the vote and any rule about repeat voting or who may take part; KDBN's ballot publishes no category roster and no stated ceiling on how often one Coloradan may vote; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

Later editions in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 are confirmed as years the ballot ran, but the day-by-day window for each of them belongs to the station's own announcement for that year. A five-day vote moves fast: a design campaign that starts after the close date has nowhere to land, so anyone supporting a design should watch 95rockfm.com at the start of the cycle rather than assume the February dates repeat exactly.

How to cast a vote in the Colorado license design ballot

Casting a ballot in KDBN's license design vote is a plain public vote that runs on the station's domain. A supporter opens the 95rockfm.com ballot page, sees the license design options posted for the current cycle, picks the design they want every Coloradan to carry, and submits. No third party poll service sits between the voter and the choice, which keeps the path short: the whole action happens on one radio station page.

The short window is the part that catches people. The 2021 edition gave supporters from February 1 to February 5, a span the station itself called only a few days. In practice that means a design's supporters cannot afford to wait for a final push; the ballot closes before most people have noticed it opened. Sharing the link early in the window does more for a design than any last-minute effort.

Because the vote runs statewide on radio station infrastructure, the natural support base is the listening audience. A design wins by being the one listeners hear about on air, see shared by friends, and can find in the few days the poll is live. If you want your preferred design to win, the job is to make sure every Coloradan in your circle knows the ballot exists before the close date, not to argue about the artwork after the poll has shut.

How this ballot sits beside other Colorado public votes

Colorado has a crowded field of public ballots, and this one is the odd entry among its neighbours. The state's other major ballots are readers polls with dozens of categories: Top of the Town from 5280, Best of Denver from Westword, Best of NOCO, Best of the Springs, Best of Summit County and Best of the Boat from Steamboat. Each of those answers a question about local businesses across a long category list.

The license design vote answers one question about one object. There are no restaurants, no salons and no category hierarchy; a Coloradan votes on artwork and the artwork goes on the license itself. That makes the audience different too. A readers poll draws shoppers comparing businesses, while this ballot draws anyone with a license, which is nearly the whole adult state.

It also differs in hosting. Most of the sibling ballots above run on dedicated balloting platforms built for multi-category polls. KDBN's vote lives at a 95rockfm.com address under the station's control, so the vote inherits the look and traffic of a radio station site instead of a poll provider. A supporter shares a station address and remembers the station's own short voting days.

Strengthening support for a design before the poll closes

Because the window is only a few days, support for a license design has to be organized before the ballot opens. The levers are ordinary ones: radio listeners hear the station talk about the vote, so a design with a story gets talked about; social shares of the 95rockfm.com ballot link travel fast in a statewide audience; and friend-to-friend asks work because the outcome is something every Coloradan sees. What KDBN says about outside help is not published with the ballot, so a campaign should stay inside whatever the station posts. For tactics that fit a short public vote, see our votes guide, and for how packages are priced see award vote options. No paid push of any size can guarantee a design wins; the ballot is decided by how many Coloradans actually vote in the days the poll is open.