2018 Elections: Early Mail-In Ballots Trailing Behind 2016, 2014

DENVER, CO –The first Colorado ballot return totals were released by the Colorado Secretary of State's office Tuesday. Early-bird mail-ins sent in 159,312 ballots. Of those, the highest number were Republicans with 57,695 ballots returned. Next were Democrats with 55,450 and last were 44,300 unaffiliated voters who sent in their ballots.

Compared to this timeframe during the presidential election in 2016, and the last mid-term election in 2014, turnout is low.

In 2016, nine days after ballots were sent out, the Secretary of State's office reported a grand total of 286,639 ballots received, with 117,766 Democrat ballots cast and 94,499 Republican ballots sent in. At this point in 2016, 70,410 unaffiliated voters had cast their vote.

In the last mid-term election in 2014, turnout was also higher in at this stage in the game, with 204,480 total voters casting their ballots by nine days in.

Many are predicting a high voter turnout this year. Colorado's June primaries had historically high participation, with 31 percent of Colorado voters casting a ballot. That's partly because unaffiliated voters were allowed to choose a Democrat or Republican ballot this year.

As of September, the Secretary of State's office reported that Colorado has about 3.82 million active registered voters. Only around 4 percent of total registered active voters have sent in their ballots so far.

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