As the 2022 election season comes to a close on Tuesday evening, over 7,000 Summit County voters returned their ballots to the county clerk’s office, which is about 32.9% of the county’s 21,269 active registered voters. 

Friday marked the end of the second week of ballot processing. Of the 7,001 ballots processed by election judges, 3,122 are unaffiliated voters, 2,469 were Democratic and 1,348 were Republican. Another 62 were minor parties, and 69 votes were conducted in person. 

Across the state, 1.3 million ballots have been accounted for by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, according to a news release on Monday. This is about 35.1% of active voters in Colorado. According to the data, the biggest groups represented by cast ballots so far are female voters ages 65-74, male voters ages 65-74 and female voters ages 55-64. Unaffiliated voters are outpacing Republican and Democratic registered voters so far. 

Election Night result reporting

“Signatures are verified, and accepted ballots are scanned ahead of time, but results are not pulled or known before 7:01 p.m. on Election Day,” chief deputy clerk and recorder Stacey Nell said in an election update. 

Like all counties in Colorado, results will be posted to the secretary of state’s website. According to the Summit County Clerk and Recorder’s office, at 7:01 p.m., there will be the first batch of results and will likely take 10-15 minutes to post because it is the largest amount of data. 

By 9 p.m., the second batch of results will be posted. Then, a third and final posting is done before the night is over, usually between 10 p.m. and midnight, depending on the volume of votes. 

“It’s rare, but possible, that Election Judges could be called back the following morning to continue tabulation, depending on how much remains, at the discretion of the clerk and recorder,” Nell added. 

In the 2018 midterms, Summit County voters cast 14,483 ballots, 91% of which were cast by mail. In the 2020 presidential election, 18,682 Summit County community members voted, and 92% were cast by mail. 

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 or short-term rentals. 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/.

On Election Day

If someone is looking to vote on Election Day but has not registered, there are options. As long as he or she has been a Colorado resident for 22 days, they can register on Tuesday, Nov. 8 and cast a ballot. 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. 

For voters using their mailed ballots, drop-off boxes will be available on Election Day, as well, until 7 p.m. Those are available at the 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.

The Silverthorne box moved slightly from its usual location at the North Branch Library to Silverthorne Town Hall due to renovations.