Colorado early voting numbers show Democrats with slight edge over GOP voters

More than 635,000 Colorado voters have returned their ballots for the Nov. 5 election, which features a faceoff between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump and a host of other races and ballot measures, according to data released by state elections officials Wednesday.

RELATED: Colorado voter guide: Stories, explainers and endorsements for the 2024 election

So far, Democrats have outpaced Republicans by about 22,000 ballots. The numbers are the first release of ballot return data from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office since mail ballots went out to all active registered voters in mid-October, with voters able to return them by mail or through drop boxes. A small number, 5,815 voters, have opted to cast ballots in person.

The largest chunk of voters to have turned in their ballots is also the largest group of registered voters in the state — unaffiliated voters. They have turned in nearly 250,000 completed ballots, compared to around 200,000 for Democrats and 178,000 for Republicans. The numbers posted were as of the end of the day Tuesday.

The breakdown of voters shows that the bulk of ballots — nearly 65% — have come from people 55 and older. More women have turned in ballots than men.

The data also show that this year’s ballot returns among both major parties and unaffiliated voters are about half of what was received by clerk’s offices at the same point four years ago — 636,597 this year to nearly 1.27 million in 2020.

While election officials have received more ballots from Democratic voters thus far, there are more active Democratic voters registered in Colorado than Republicans — 26% to approximately 23%. The returns so far by voters affiliated with those parties are in relative proportion.