More than 35,000 ballots from across Colorado have been returned as of Monday for , as officials urge voters who are mailing back their ballots to do so before the middle of next week to ensure they are counted.
Ballots for the Nov. 7 election went out last week in all but six of the state’s 64 counties. Those counties not participating in the fall election have no contested races or local ballot measures.
Of the ballots turned in across Colorado so far, 11,633 came from registered Democrats and 14,913 from registered Republicans. Unaffiliated voters turned in 9,383 ballots.
Voters age 71 and older turned in the most ballots of any age bracket — with 12,431. Voters ages 18-25 were at the bottom of the pack, having turned in just 799 ballots as of Monday, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.
There are , but turnout for off-year elections is typically much smaller than, say, during a presidential election year.
In Denver, about one-third of all ballots are turned in on Election Day itself.
As of Monday morning, 1,869 ballots had been returned in Denver. The city has a host of issues before voters, namely , school board races and an initiative that would mandate that the roofs of large new buildings .
In Douglas County, which has , 3,049 ballots were returned as of the start of this week.
The U.S. Postal Service encourages voters who are mailing in their ballots to do so at least a week before the Nov. 7 Election Day — so that means Oct. 31, Halloween — to ensure their ballots are counted. Postmark dates alone don’t count, as ballots must be in the possession of county clerks by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Denver has 26 24-hour ballot drop-off boxes across the city. The location of those can be found .
, the fall election features no statewide ballot measures.
