By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice
Younger populations, regardless of gender, left primary decisions to the older generations and three-fourths of the state left decisions to the other quarter Tuesday, according to data from the Secretary of State’s office.
Among the state’s 3,872,503 active registered voters, about 25.9% participated in one of the state’s primary elections, a total of 1,001,720 ballots returned statewide. The largest pool of voters were unaffiliated, totaling 1,881,080 registered and 360,794 casting ballots, a 19.2% turnout. Those ballots were almost equally split between the two major parties.
There are 905,605 active registered Republican voters, and with 121,461 unaffiliated Republican ballots and an estimated 51,300 in process a fair estimate of Republican turnout might be 29.8%. That would be a turnout 3.9% better than the state.
Residents ages 65-74 cast 270,061 ballots to rank highest among all ages, followed by those ages 75-plus at 208,974 and ages 55-64 with 194,134 ballots cast. Considering the 119,641 ballots cast by those ages 45-54, those ages 45-plus cast 79.1% of all ballots statewide. Residents ages 18 to 34 cast only 7.0% of all statewide ballots.
The Secretary of State’s report also identifies females ages 65-74 were the top voting demographic, followed by males ages 65-74 and females ages 75-plus. The data also indicates females returned more Democratic ballots than Republican, and conversely males returned more Republican ballots than Democratic.
Republicans hold a ballot count advantage in the age 55-64 age division and also in the age 75-plus division. Ballot count is almost equal between the major parties in the age 65-74 division. Democratic Party ballots are voted by a decisive edge in the age 25-44 divisions.