Ballots are still being counted, but it’s already clear that voter turnout for last Tuesday’s presidential primary in Colorado was at an all-time high.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said Thursday that more than 1.8 million ballots were returned, adding up to a nearly 47% turnout rate of registered voters. In Mesa County, voter turnout was just over 40%, with more than 44,000 ballots cast.
Griswold said that was higher than in any of the 14 states and American Samoa that were part of Super Tuesday’s election.
“The massive turnout we’ve seen for the presidential primary is indicative of both the passion Coloradans have for exercising their right to vote as well as the state election model that enables access to do so,” Griswold said. “We’ve set a record in Colorado primary turnout and lead the nation in primary turnout participation, even before our results are final.”
To date, nearly 1.7 million ballots have been counted.
More than 1 million of those ballots were cast in the Democratic Party primary, though more than 100,000 more have yet to be tabulated. So far, nearly 666,000 ballots were cast in the Republican primary.
More than 14,000 Mesa County residents voted in the Democratic primary, but only 8,558 went to the three candidates still in the race, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Tulsi Gabbard. In the Republican primary, nearly 95% of the votes in the county went to President Donald Trump. Statewide, more than 50,000 Republican primary voters didn’t vote for the president, who still earned about 92% of the vote.
About one-third of those ballots came from unaffiliated voters. Under Proposition 107 approved by voters in 2016, it was the first time unaffiliated voters could participate in party primaries for president. That new law also called for having a presidential primary rather than caucuses. It was the first presidential primary in Colorado since 2000.
Nearly 603,000 ballots came from unaffiliated voters overall, 367,604 of which were cast in the Democratic primary and 102,541 in the Republican primary.
While tabulations are still going on, as things stand now, the Democratic primary race resulted in 29 delegates for Sanders, 21 for Biden, 10 for Michael Bloomberg and eight for Elizabeth Warren, according to the Colorado Democratic Party.
Delegates are awarded based on the statewide vote totals and a candidates’ performance in each of the state’s seven congressional districts. At nearly 36%, Sanders clearly won the statewide popular vote over Biden’s 24%, but that only gave him 13 delegates compared to Biden’s 10.
Since Tuesday, however, Bloomberg and Warren have suspended their presidential bids, meaning their combined 18 delegates would become unpledged, allowing them to cast votes in the National Democratic Convention in July for whomever they wish.
Depending on whom they decide to vote for could clear a path for Biden to have the most Colorado delegates, but only if all of Bloomberg’s delegates and at least three Warren delegates vote for Biden.
Bloomberg has already endorsed Biden, but Warren has said she won’t endorse either remaining candidates.