With only one day remaining until Election Day, just over 35% of voters have returned their ballots so far, according to Monday’s data from the Secretary of State’s Office.

As of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, around 1.34 million ballots were returned out of the over 3.81 million active registered voters in Colorado. That’s an increase of fewer than 240,000 ballots in three days. Prior to the weekend, daily ballot returns averaged nearly 120,000 Wednesday through Friday, and hit a record 200,000 on Tuesday.

In addition to slowing gains, this year’s early voter turnout in Colorado has consistently fallen below previous years’ tallies, with the gap only widening.

At this point during the 2020 election, nearly 2.54 million ballots had been returned, according to data from the Secretary of State’s Office. While presidential elections typically yield higher voter turnout, at this time during the 2018 midterm election, over 1.61 million ballots were returned.

The difference in early voter turnout from 2022 to 2018 has drastically increased throughout the week, going from a 49,321-ballot gap on Tuesday, to 112,793 on Friday, to 277,156 now.

The biggest dip in early turnout is among Republican voters, who made up the plurality of early voters – 34.4% – at this time in 2018. Then, Republicans returned around 556,000 ballots so far. Now, they’ve returned around 389,000 ballots. That 166,807-ballot difference accounts for the bulk of the overall drop between 2018 and 2022.

Early turnout has also gone down significantly among Democrats – by around 122,000 ballots from 2018 to 2022 – and slightly among unaffiliated voters, by 1,736 ballots.

This year, unaffiliated voters have consistently led the early turnout. More than 503,000 of the ballots turned in so far came from unaffiliated voters, making up 37.6% of the total. Democrats are in second place with 32.3% of returned ballots, followed by Republicans with 29.1%.

Over 98.9% of ballots cast were mailed in, with only 14,492 people voting in person.

Older voters are still dominating the early turnout but are slipping. Voters aged 65 and over have returned 40.9% of Colorado’s ballots – a strong plurality, but again sitting below 50% after losing the majority on Tuesday for the first time since early voting began. Voters aged 45 to 64 have returned 34.4% of ballots, and voters younger than 45 have returned 24.7% of ballots.

Jefferson County voters continue to make up the biggest chunk of early voters, submitting nearly 163,000 ballots so far. Rounding out the top five: El Paso, Denver, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, with returned ballots ranging from 151,971 to 109,320.

Early voting is available throughout the state via 350 in-person voting centers and 411 drop boxes. Voters can find their closest drop box or voting center and the hours of operation at GoVoteColorado.gov.

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 still register to vote online at GoVoteColorado.gov and then 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.