Colorado’s Presidential Primary Heading to One Million Plus

More than 850,000 Colorado voters have already returned ballots five days before the March 3 primary. More than 250,000 unaffiliated have voted, casting their ballots nearly two-to-one in the Democratic primary. More than 1.3 million voters are possible. In the 2018 gubernatorial primary, 1.1 million turned out. Democrats, who often vote late, have low turnout as of Thursday, February 27.

The 852,428 total, as of Thursday, is twice the previous number of voters in Colorado’s eight-year experience with presidential primaries from 1992 to 2000.

History

The highest Republican presidential primary turnout high was in the 1996 contest among five candidates, including Bob Dole, Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes, when 246,339 voted. The Democratic high turnout was in the first event in 1992 when 234,287 voters made Jerry Brown the top candidate with 29 percent against Bill Clinton (27%) and Paul Tsongas (26%).

Significance of the 2020 Vote

• First presidential primary in 20 years
• Early date in competitive year for Democrats
• All mail-back ballots
• More than 1 million unaffiliated voters sent ballots and encouraged to vote by campaigns
• 17-year-olds allowed to vote (if reach 18 years old by Nov. 3, 2020)