By BRIAN PORTER | The Rocky Mountain Voice
A little more than one-third of registered Colorado voters cast a ballot in the state’s Presidential primary election, Secretary of State Jena Griswold reported Monday.
She has certified the election, making the results official and final, a press release from her office reads. Certification follows each county’s bipartisan canvass board submitting their official abstract of votes to the Secretary of State’s Office.
There were 1,464,836 ballots casts among 3,788,458 active, registered voters, resulting in a turnout of 38.67%. Unaffiliated voters cast 38.4% of all ballots, a total of 562,699 ballots. In the Democratic Party primary, there were 177,117 ballots cast, with 31.4% of those ballots cast by unaffiliated voters. In the Republican Party primary, there were 385,582 ballots cast, with 68.52% of ballots cast by unaffiliated voters.
Republicans had a ballot advantage over Democrats in the primary election, with Republicans casting 498,666 ballots and Democrats casting 403,471. It represented about a 6.5% difference.
The secretary of state’s office relayed data indicating voters overwhelmingly choose to mail-in ballots. Among all voters, 98.6% chose mail, with 1.4% voting in-person. More Democratic Party ballots were returned by mail (99.0%) than Republican Party ballots (98.3%).
“The 2024 Presidential primary election was among the most accessible in Colorado’s history. I am proud of our state’s elections and the voting access that we have added over the last five years,” Griswold said. “I commend the county election officials, election workers and the employees of the Department of State for their hard work and dedication to delivering great elections for Colorado voters.”