Denver Mayor’s Race Turnout Could Double Since 2011 Election

Denver's City and County Building, Aug. 10, 2021. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

In the 2011 mayoral election, 113,000 voters participated in the first round, which sent Michael Hancock and Chris Romer to the runoff. It was the most recent open seat election for mayor and the turnout was 49 percent of 231,000 registered voters. The 2003 election in which John Hickenlooper beat Don Mares had a similar 113,000 turnout of 246,000 active voters, a 46 percent.

Turnout, if similar, in the April 4 the first round vote this year, could produce a doubling of voter turnout to about 200,000 based on the much higher numbers of active voters in 2023 (446,972).