With eight days left until Election Day, just over 14.1% of registered voters have returned their ballots for the November election, according to data released Monday from the Secretary of State’s Office.

As of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, 537,735 ballots have been turned in. That means around 94,800 ballots were returned over the weekend – a slower gain compared to the average of 90,300 ballots that were returned every day from Tuesday through Friday last week.

At this point during the 2020 election, nearly 1.6 million ballots had been returned in Colorado, according to data from the Secretary of State’s Office. While presidential elections typically yield higher voter turnout, the last midterm election in 2018 also saw more early voters. At this time in 2018, just under 612,000 ballots were returned in Colorado.

The party-split among early voters has remained stable, with unaffiliated voters still leading the early turnout. More than 194,000 of the ballots turned in so far came from unaffiliated voters, making up 36.2% of the total. Democrats were in second place with 33.1% of returned ballots, followed by Republicans with 29.6%.

Nearly 99.5% of ballots cast were mailed in, with only 2,790 people voting in person.

Older voters are still dominating the early turnout, with 50% of returned ballots being from voters aged 65 and over. Voters age 45 to 64 have returned 31.4% of ballots and voters younger than 45 have returned 18.6% of ballots.

Jefferson County voters continue to make up the biggest chunk of early voters, submitting nearly 73,000 ballots so far. Rounding out the top five: El Paso, Arapahoe, Denver and Larimer counties, with returned ballots ranging from 57,805 to 40,523.

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 two weeks ago. Early voting officially kicked off last 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 by the end of the day Monday 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. 

RTD is offering free rides in its service area to allow voters to drop off ballots at ballot boxes or vote in person on Election Day.