DENVER—A convenient, mostly mail-in ballot mixed with contentious races for gubernatorial and Senate nominations produced a record turnout for primary elections in Colorado.
The number of Republicans voting in that party’s gubernatorial primary alone Tuesday surpassed the total number of ballots cast in the 2006 general election for governor.
It was the first year that Colorado gave counties the option to conduct an all-mail primary, and 46 of Colorado’s 64 counties chose that option.
Bob Loevy, a political scientist at Colorado College, said all-mail balloting could become the norm within 10 years.
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office reported that nearly 40 percent of registered Democrats voted Tuesday, or almost 326,800 votes. On the GOP side, 45 percent of registered Republicans voted, or more than 381,800. That’s more than the 340,000 ballots cast when Democrat Bill Ritter defeated Republican Rep. Bob Beauprez for governor in 2006.
“The other thing that clearly increased this turnout was the closeness of the races,” pollster Floyd Ciruli said. “It produces more news coverage and more interest in voters.”
Both Ciruli and Loevy said it was difficult to say whether the turnout favored any candidate.
In Jefferson County, one of Colorado’s largest counties, more than 91,000 ballots had been cast by Tuesday afternoon, hours before the polls closed—compared to more than 68,200 in all in the 2008 primary, said Josh Liss, the county’s deputy of elections.
“In terms of turnout? It blows them out of the water,” Liss said.
In Denver County, voter turnout surpassed 30 percent by Tuesday afternoon, said Alton Dillard, spokesman for the Denver Elections Division.
Denver had a voter turnout of about 16 percent in the primaries of 2006 and 2008.
