Despite being the minority in Colorado, Republicans made up the plurality of voters in the June primary election and had the highest voter turnout of any party.

Of the 3.79 million active registered voters in Colorado, only around 957,000 are Republicans, compared to more than 1,069,000 Democrats and nearly 1,647,000 unaffiliated voters. However, 34.5% of the more than 1.2 million ballots cast in June were from Republicans, followed by unaffiliated voters with 34.3% and Democrats with 31.0%.

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The data was presented Thursday during the Bipartisan Election Advisory Commission’s meeting as part of the state’s primary election recap.

The data also revealed that Republicans had the highest voter turnout of any party, with 43.9% of active registered Republicans casting a ballot in June. Only 35.3% of active registered Democrats and 25.4% of unaffiliated voters turned out for the election. The average voter turnout statewide was 32.2%.

Republicans’ turnout dominance during the primary election was expected, as the party held more contested races than Democrats. 

Major offices, including governor, secretary of state and U.S. senator, offered sole candidates on the Democratic side, with incumbents running unopposed. The GOP, on the other hand, held robust primary contests for those statewide offices. Of the 82 state legislative races, only 23 had contested primaries — 16 of which featured competing Republican candidates.

The higher competition on the Republican side doesn’t explain the abysmal turnout among unaffiliated voters, but it does explain the behavior of those who cast a ballot. In Colorado, unaffiliated voters receive both a Republican and Democratic primary ballot in the mail, but can only cast one. Of the nearly 419,000 ballots cast by unaffiliated voters in June, 59.3% were Republican ballots and 40.7% were Democratic ballots.

Statewide, 98.8% of Colorado voters voted via mail or drop box. Only 1.2% — just over 15,000 people — voted in person.

While both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly preferred mail-in voting, Republicans were nearly twice as likely to vote in person than Democrats. More than two-thirds of the in-person voters were Republicans, making up 1.5% of all Republican voters, compared to 0.8% of Democrat voters.

This year, 52% of active registered voters signed up with BallotTrax to track the status of their mail-in ballots. BallotTrax users were slightly more likely to vote in the primary election, with a 35.6% voter turnout rate compared to the statewide rate of 32.2%.

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