Colorado’s early ballot returns finally broke 1,000,000 four days out from Election Day, according to Friday’s data from the Secretary of State’s Office.

As of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, 1,099,847 Colorado voters have returned ballots, representing 28.9% of the state’s more than 3.8 million active registered voters. That’s up around 118,600 ballots in 24 hours — the third consecutive daily increase of nearly 120,000 ballots. Last week’s average daily increase was 90,300, but Tuesday saw a record 200,000 ballots.

Despite these recent gains, Colorado’s early voter turnout is still below previous years, and the gap is only widening.

At this point during the 2020 election, nearly 2.3 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 1.2 million ballots were returned.

The difference in early voter turnout from 2022 to 2018 has increased throughout the week, going from a 49,321-ballot gap on Tuesday, to 77,857 on Wednesday, 106,673 on Thursday and 112,793 now.

The biggest dip in early turnout is among Republican voters, who made up the plurality of early voters — 35% — at this time in 2018. Then, Republicans returned around 424,000 ballots so far. Now, they’ve returned almost 322,000 ballots. That 102,133-ballot difference nearly accounts for the overall drop between 2018 and 2022.

Early turnout has also gone down among Democrats — by around 66,000 ballots from 2018 to 2022 — but it has increased slightly among unaffiliated voters, up by 44,500 ballots.

This year, unaffiliated voters have consistently led the early turnout. More than 409,000 of the ballots turned in so far came from unaffiliated voters, making up 37.2% of the total. Democrats are in second place with 32.5% of returned ballots, followed by Republicans with 29.3%.

Nearly 99.3% of ballots cast were mailed in, with only 7,903 people voting in person.

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Older voters are still dominating the early turnout but have fallen slightly. Voters aged 65 and over have returned 43.4% 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 33.9% of ballots, and voters younger than 45 have returned 22.7% of ballots.

Jefferson County voters continue to make up the biggest chunk of early voters, submitting nearly 138,000 ballots so far. Rounding out the top five: El Paso, Arapahoe, Denver and Douglas counties, with returned ballots ranging from 123,621 to 85,801.

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

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.

The voter registration deadline to receive a ballot in the mail ended on Monday; however, 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. 

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