Today wraps up one of the most activeand contentious — primary seasons Coloradans have witnessed in years, and it seems clear that the expanded use of mail ballots has helped boost voter participation.
By late last week, many counties were reporting that turnout had surpassed primaries in 2006 and 2008, according to The Denver Post’s Karen E. Crummy.
But with the majority of counties relying completely on mail ballots, this primary season has shown both the advantages and disadvantages of their use.
On the plus side, we’ve no doubt that voter participation increased due to the ease of using mail ballots.
Yes, this is the first time in nearly 40 years that Colorado has seen two contested primaries for the U.S. Senate and one for the governor’s office.
Add to the mix significant voter discontent with the status quo in both major parties, and turnout was probably going to go up anyway.
But even given those dynamics, mail ballots no doubt boosted turnout. We’ve talked with a number of people who say that while they were happy to mail in ballots, they wouldn’t have bothered going to the polls.
On the other hand, mail ballots extend the period when voting takes place, meaning voters who mark their ballots early sometimes live to regret it.
Ballots were sent to registered affiliated voters three weeks ago, shortly after a plagiarism scandal soured some Republicans who intended to vote for Scott McInnis in the gubernatorial primary. But those who switched to Dan Maes woke up to a rude discovery only last week. Word that Maes believes Denver’s bike sharing program is a United Nations’ plot has made some voters regret they’d already mailed in their vote.
Late developments in the Republican Senate primary also may have changed opinions, depending on how voters reacted to candidate Ken Buck’s joke about high heels and his dismissal of “birthers” as “dumbasses.” His opponent, Jane Norton, certainly tried to exploit Buck’s words to her advantage. But of course those who voted early were in no position to reassess their choice.
Several late developments have also rocked the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, from Andrew Romanoff’s wildly unfair characterization of Sen. Michael Bennet as a corporate looter to last week’s front-page New York Times article that sharply criticized Bennet’s role in a debt offering he put together while superintendent of Denver Public Schools.
Also last week, Romanoff’s campaign signaled it would accept future support from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, though a central plank of Romanoff’s campaign is that he rejects money from special interests like the political action committees that heavily support the DSCC.
Twists like these make a clear argument for voters to be patient before marking their ballots.
Some county clerks urged voters to mail their ballots early, in order not to deluge election workers and delay the final tally.
Forgive us for seeing it the other way. We’d rather voters make the most well-informed choices possible — even if it jeopardizes the rapid reporting of results.
