Democrats in Colorado have jumped ahead of Republicans in requesting mail-in ballots this election, a development some observers see as further proof of Democratic momentum in the state heading into November.
According to numbers provided Tuesday by the secretary of state’s office, 23,000 more Democrats have requested mail-in ballots than Republicans. Less than a month ago, in late September, Republicans in Colorado held a 30,000-voter edge in asking for mail-in ballots.
Democrats also outnumbered Republicans in showing up Monday for the first day of early voting, by about 3,000 voters. But, because Republicans have turned in about 3,000 more mail-in ballots so far, the two parties are neck-and-neck in terms of turnout in the early stages of voting in the state.
“I think it matches what we’ve seen really pretty much all year,” said John Straayer, a Colorado State University political science professor. “There’s extraordinarily high interest on both sides, but the excitement quotient seems to be higher on the Democratic side. And that excitement appears to be translating into action.”
Getting out the vote through mail-in ballots has historically been the forte of Republicans. In Arapahoe County, for instance, Republicans cast 48 percent of the mail-in ballots in 2004, when the county went for President Bush. Democrats cast 30 percent of the mail-in ballots.
This year in Arapahoe County, Democratic mail-in ballot requests are outnumbering Republican ones by about 2,500, according to the secretary of state’s numbers.
“Even if the numbers were even,” said local political analyst Eric Sondermann, “I would say that’s probably a positive sign for Democrats given the Republicans’ historic dominance of mail-in voting.”
University of Colorado political science professor Ken Bickers, though, cautioned about reading too much into the numbers at this point, saying changes in the balance between the parties could have as much to do with how fast counties are getting through the piles of requests coming in as they do with political momentum.
Mail-in ballot requests continue to stream into county clerk’s offices across the state, with the secretary of state’s office tallying 60,814 more requests Tuesday morning than were reported Monday morning. Statewide, the total number of requests — more than 1.5 million — represents about 48 percent of the registered voters in the state.
In some counties, including Jefferson and Arapahoe, close to 60 percent of registered voters have asked for a mail-in ballot, according to the secretary of state’s numbers.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday Congressman Ed Perlmutter, a Golden Democrat, sent Arapahoe County Clerk Nancy Doty a blistering letter questioning whether the county, which will use electronic voting on Election Day, is prepared for the election.
Doty, a Republican, said the county’s voting machines are reliable.
“I think we’re prepared just fine,” she said.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
