First results from the Douglas County elections division show a commanding lead for the Douglas County Board of Education candidates in the CommUNITY slate.

As of 7:15 p.m. Tuesday night, all four candidates – Kevin Leung, Christina Schor, Anthony Graziano and Krista Holtzmann – held an average lead of more than 10,000 votes each over the candidates on the Elevate Douglas County slate: former state board of education member Debora Scheffel, Grant Nelson, Randy Mills and Ryan Abresch.

As of 6 p.m., about 85,000 ballots, out of 222,525 sent to voters, had been turned in. Results will be updated again at 8:30 p.m.

With an average of just over 62,000 ballots per race, Graziano leads Abresch by more than 11,000 votes; Schor leads Mills by about the same number of votes; Leung leads Nelson by just over 10,000 votes; and Holtzman leads Scheffel by about 9,000 votes.

In Jefferson County, according to early returns reported by the secretary of state, the three incumbents appear to be sailing to an easy victory in their attempts to win their first full four-year terms.

Board Chair Ron Mitchell had no opponent in his bid; Brad Rupert appears to be winning handily over Matt Van Gieson; and Susan Harmon has a commanding lead over Erica Shields. Should those percentages hold, the Jefferson County board of education remains unchanged from its 2015 composition.

First returns posted to the secretary of state’s website shows Rupert with 60 percent of the vote to Van Gieson’s 39 percent; Harmon has garnered 59.7 percent of the vote; Shields has 40 percent.

This is a developing story. Check back with Colorado Politics for updates.