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Local ballots cast by Democrats, Republicans, unaffiliated voters remain close one week ahead of Election day, according to voter turnout reports

Elizabeth Miller drops her ballot in a collection box at Breckenridge Town Hall on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, Municipal Election Day. As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, over 28% of the nearly 3,700 registered voters in Breckenridge had cast their ballots.
Andrew Maciejewski/Summit Daily News

With about a week left for Summit County residents to get their votes in before Election Day, many community members have already turned in their ballots.

Summit County clerk and recorder Kathleen Neel said that about 5,113 mailed ballots have been returned to the clerk’s office, and 30 people in Summit County voted early in person last week, according to a report sent out Tuesday, Nov. 1 around 5 p.m.

Neel said that at this point, ballots should be turned in rather than sent through the mail in order to guarantee it gets to the clerk’s office by Election Day. Dropbox locations can be found at the bottom of this article.



Local turnout

Neel said turnout tends to be higher in even years than odd years — especially when there are state and federal elections on the ballot. In total, Summit County has 21,269 active registered voters as of Oct. 28. Of ballots returned so far, 2,189 were unaffiliated voters, 1,807 were Democratic Party voters, 1,012 were Republican Party voters and 48 were minority parties, according to reports issued Nov. 1 at 5 p.m.

“I think (current turnout) is about on par for other years,” Neel said. “I’ve noticed a trend in the last couple years that folks are starting to turn in their ballots a little bit later than they used to, but as long as they get them in by Election Day, that’s all that matters.”



Contested races

Summit County voters will select a winner in several contested races involving the local government, including clerk and recorder, commissioner, and sheriff. Summit County residents will also choose their state senator and state representative at the Capitol.

Other statewide offices up for election include governor, secretary of state, attorney general, at-large state board of education members and treasurer.

The town of Dillon and Summit County government also have ballot questions, many of which relate to housing. Statewide ballot issues include allowing wine in grocery stores and the legalization of psychedelic mushrooms

Stories on each race, along with candidate profiles, can be found at SummitDaily.com/news/election/.

Statewide turnout trends

According to recent data released from the Colorado Secretary of State’s office on Monday, approximately 537,735 Coloradans have returned their mail ballots so far. That total represents about 14.1% of the 3.8 million active registered voters in Colorado with about a week to go until Election Day. 

Currently, unaffiliated voters are the largest chunk of returned ballots so far. More than 194,000 of the ballots turned in came from unaffiliated voters, or about 36.2% of the returned ballots. Democrats are in second place with 33.1% of returned ballots, followed by Republicans with 29.6%. In Colorado, almost half of registered voters are unaffiliated. 

Of the ballots cast so far, approximately 99.5% of votes were turned in via mail rather than early voting in person.

Local voting information

For early in-person voting, people can visit the South Branch Library in Breckenridge on weekdays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. until Nov. 5. On Saturday, Nov. 5, in-person voting hours will be from 8 a.m. to noon at that location.

On Election Day, there will be three locations for in-person voting: the South Branch Library, 103 S. Harris St., Breckenridge; the Summit County Community & Senior Center, 83 Nancy’s Place, Frisco; and the Silverthorne Pavilion, 400 Blue River Parkway, Silverthorne. Election Day voting will be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The five 24-hour ballot drop boxes are located at: Summit County Old Courthouse, 208 E. Lincoln Ave, Breckenridge; Dillon Town Hall, 275 Lake Dillon Drive, Dillon; Frisco Town Hall, 1 Main St., Frisco; Summit County Commons, 0037 Peak One Drive, Frisco; Silverthorne Town Hall, 601 Center Circle, Silverthorne.

If someone has been a Colorado resident for 22 days, he or she can walk in on Election Day and register to vote on Election Day. 

“We just want to encourage everyone to vote,” Neel added. “We want to have high turnout, and if anyone has any questions, you can call (the clerk’s) office.”

For more information, including coverage of forums and columns from local candidates, visit SummitDaily.com/news/election/


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