DENVER – Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold on Tuesday certified the state’s 2020 General Election results – the final step in making the election final before presidential electors vote on Dec. 14.
Colorado’s nine electors will cast their ballot for Joe Biden in accordance with state law and this year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling after Biden defeated President Donald Trump by 13.5% points in the Centennial State, 55.4% to 41.9%.
Colorado had the nation’s second-highest voter turnout rate among both active registered voters (86.5%) and the voting-eligible population (76.4%), Griswold said, only topped by Minnesota. Griswold said that turnout among voters aged 18-24 was 76.7%.
Griswold said that 86% of voters returned their ballots prior to election day and 94% of voters of all parties voting using their mail ballots, with 12,260 people registering to vote on Election Day.
Griswold lauded the work by county clerks across the state in completing the election and subsequent audits, and recounts in a few counties, ahead of certification.
Griswold also brushed aside a letter sent by several Republican state lawmakers to the House Speaker calling for a special committee on election integrity and an independent audit of Dominion voting machines as political theater, saying that multiple audits had already been completed, and that the Dominion equipment was selected and certified by bipartisan teams, the state and feds.
In all, 3,291,548 Coloradans votes were counted, with unaffiliated voters being the top voting bloc, with 1,276,834 ballots counted.
“The 2020 General Election will be remembered as one of the most challenging and successful elections in our state’s history,” said Secretary Griswold. “Colorado rose to the challenge of executing a successful general election during a pandemic by adding access and safeguards. Over 3.2 million Coloradans made their voices heard, setting the highest record number of voters participating in any election held in state history. We are tremendously proud of this success, and I commend my staff and county clerks offices for all their diligent work this year.”
Presidential electors will vote on Dec. 14 to formally designate Joe Biden as the next president. While the Trump campaign and its supporters have challenged and try to throw out results in several swing states, none of their attempts to do so have thus far been successful, and the Supreme Court rejected a request for an appeal over an effort to toss votes in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
States that certified their elections by Tuesday have to have their electoral votes counted by Congress under federal law.