By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice
Nearly half of all ballots cast as of Sunday in the 4th District were derived from Douglas County voters, meaning the remaining 20 counties in the district comprise the other half.
Election Day is Tuesday, June 25. Voters may cast a ballot today and Tuesday at either a drop box location or at a voting center. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.
About one-fifth of registered voters have cast a ballot thus far in the 4th District. Among the 538,837 active registered voters in the district, 108,405 have cast a ballot (20.1%). Among those, 53,193 reside in Douglas County (49.1%). Voters in Larimer County have turned in 17,245 ballots, comprising 15.9 percent of all returned ballots. Weld County voters have returned 8,572 ballots, 7.9 percent of all ballots returned.
Those three largest voter registration counties combine for 72.9% of all ballots returned thus far, leaving the remaining 18 counties with 27.1 percent, or just over one-quarter of the ballots cast.
What might it mean in the 4th District’s Republican primary? It could boost the anticipated frontrunners. Deborah Flora, who resides in Douglas County and who won each time a straw poll was conducted in the county, figured to grab a lion’s share of the votes from the county. It also might be a show of strength for Lauren Boebert, who has fared well in Douglas County straw polling, other large counties and who resides in Weld County. She also holds the Trump endorsement, which one candidate said long ago would decide the race. Peter Yu has additionally focused much effort in Douglas County, and told his supporters this weekend he was polling second in the district, where most project Flora or maybe a couple of other candidates.
It could also mean absent of the remaining 18 counties increasing their share of ballots cast, far Northeast Colorado candidates like ranchers Richard Holtorf and Jerry Sonnenberg might not have the votes to compete. Sonnenberg won the straw poll in the three-county region of Phillips, Sedgwick and Yuma, and he indicates an anticipation of support in Douglas County. Sonnenberg’s home county of Logan presently ranks sixth in ballot count with 3,580 cast. Holtorf has indicated his strength lies in his home county of Washington, Morgan and in areas of Southeastern Colorado, but it is entirely possible for Sonnenberg to also fare well or even win both those counties. Morgan ranks fifth in ballots returned with 3,776, but providing just 3.5 percent of all ballots returned.