Colorado Politics

Colorado’s early ballot returns reach over 440,000, hitting double-digit turnout

Roughly 443,000 Coloradans have returned their mail ballots for the November election so far, according to data released Friday from the Secretary of State’s Office.

That total represents approximately 11.7% of the 3.8 million active registered voters in Colorado with less than two weeks to go until Election Day. Returned ballots jumped by over 82,000 in the last 24 hours, but fell short of Thursday’s daily gain of almost 90,000 additional ballots returned.

The party-split has remained stable throughout the week, with unaffiliated voters still leading early turnout. More than 160,000 of the ballots turned in came from unaffiliated voters, making up 36.2% of the total. Democrats are in second place with 33.0% of returned ballots, followed by Republicans with 29.8%.

Unaffiliated voters are underperforming based on overall population, as unaffiliated voters comprise 45.6% of all active registered voters in Colorado, according to voter registration data from the Secretary of State’s Office. Republicans and Democrats are both overrepresented in the early voter turnout, with the former making up 24.7% of all voters and the latter making up 27.8%.

More than 99.5% of ballots cast so far were mailed in, with only 1,999 people voting in person.

Older voters are still dominating the early turnout, with 50.6% of returned ballots being from voters aged 65 and over. Voters age 45 to 64 have returned 31.2% of ballots and voters younger than 45 have returned 18.2% of ballots.

Jefferson County voters continue to make up the biggest chunk of early voters, submitting nearly 57,000 ballots so far. Rounding out the top five: El Paso, Arapahoe, Denver and Larimer counties, with returned ballots ranging from 51,311 to 33,240.

The Secretary of State’s Office is expected to release updates on the returned ballots every weekday through Election Day on Nov. 8.

Ballots were mailed to registered Colorado voters last week. Early voting officially kicked off on Monday with the opening of 411 drop boxes and 121 voting centers throughout the state.

Voters can find their closest drop box or voting center and the hours of operation at GoVoteColorado.gov. By Election Day, there will be over 350 voting centers available to submit ballots, in addition to the 411 drop boxes currently open.

The ballot for the general election includes 11 statewide ballot measures, as well as more than 150 state and local races, plus local ballot initiatives in some counties.

Coloradans can register to vote and update voter registration at GoVoteColorado.gov through Oct. 31 to receive a ballot in the mail. Afterwards, Coloradans can still register to vote and vote in person until 7 p.m. on Election Day. In-person voting will be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.

On Friday, RTD is offering free rides in its service area to allow voters to drop off ballots at ballot boxes or vote in person. That service will also be free on Election Day.

Election judges begin to pull ballots from the boxes they’ve been transported in at the Denver Elections Division on Bannock Street on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, in Denver, Colo. (Timothy Hurst/The Denver Gazette)
Timothy Hurst

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