Overview
- Polls closed Tuesday and the Colorado Secretary of State's Office reported more than one million returned ballots as county clerks began live tabulation and result posting.
- State officials said turnout is running above comparable points in 2022 and 2024, with raw returns roughly 160,000 higher than two years earlier at the same stage.
- Colorado requires mail ballots to be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, so the deadline to mail had passed and late votes had to be hand-delivered to 137 voting centers or 437 drop boxes to count.
- Returned ballots to date skew older and Democratic, with voters 65+ accounting for a large share and Democrats making up a greater percentage of returns than Republicans, a factor that could affect tight races for governor, U.S. Senate, attorney general and eight House seats.
- County variation is wide: El Paso County led returns and expected tens of thousands more drop-offs, election offices used same-day registration and BallotTrax for tracking, and officials managed wildfire-related disruptions with replacement and in-person voting options.