DENVER — With just days until Election Day, numbers from the Colorado Secretary of State's office are giving us a glimpse of who has—and has not—already turned in their ballots. More than 654,000 ballots had been returned as of the end of the day Thursday. With more than 3.9 million active voters in Colorado, that marks a less than 17% voter turnout so far.
Of the ballots returned, 29% have come from registered Democrats, 32% have come from registered Republicans, and nearly 38% have come from unaffiliated voters. Interestingly, when compared with the percentages of each group's share of the overall electorate, it shows both Republicans and Democrats slightly outperforming their overall shares, and unaffiliated voters underperforming so far.
Denver7 spoke to several vote canvassers in the Denver metro area Saturday, as they did their last-minute "get out the vote" pushes for various candidates and causes to find out what they were hearing most from potential voters.
Katie Winner, the political director for Upstream Consulting in Jefferson County, said many voters ask which candidates and issues are on the ballot when she and her team knock on their doors. Winner and her team have knocked on more than 10,000 doors, she said, supporting candidates for school boards and reminding voters to get their ballots in.
"People are constantly surprised that there's an election," Winner laughed. "It's always the first Tuesday in November, but there's always new voters in Colorado with our automatic voter registration. So, it always seems on the day of Election Day, people wake up and go, 'What, there's an election?' But, that's great! They have until 7:00 Election Night to get their ballot counted."
Winner thinks we'll see many more ballots cast between now and the close of Election Day, particularly where she is in Jefferson County which has some key races for school boards and mayor.
Jesse Mallory, the director of Americans for Prosperity Colorado, agrees. He and his team have been speaking to voters and canvassing in opposition to Proposition HH, which would impact historically high property taxes and future TABOR refunds. He said many voters have become much more interested in casting a ballot after learning about Prop HH.
"You see a lot of folks who wait until the end. They want to make sure they get all the information," Mallory said. "Whether it's candidates or an issue, they want to make sure they have all the facts before they move forward."
Ballots must be received by your county clerk and recorder no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day. Postmarks do not count. With Election Day just around the corner, you can drop it off in person at any drop box in your county to make sure it is received on time.
