Voter Turnout Decreased In 2022 Colorado Midterms

By Lindsey Toomer, Colorado Newsline

November 17, 2022

While more than 2.5 million Coloradans voted in the 2022 midterm elections, this year saw a lower rate of voter turnout than in the last midterm election in 2018.

With 66.6% of Colorado’s active voters participating in the election, turnout naturally is less than in the 2020 presidential election, but it also fell short of the 2018 midterms by about 8 percentage points. In the 2020 presidential election, 86.5% of active voters in Colorado participated.

In the 2018 election, Colorado actually had a similar number of ballots cast as in the 2022 midterms did — just about 2.5 million — but because the state now has more active voters, the percentage dropped from 2018’s 74.9% voter turnout.

A spokesperson with the secretary of state’s office said there will be one more release of ballots returned on Monday, but that shouldn’t drastically change the turnout calculations.

According to the secretary of state’s office, 40.47% of voters this year were unaffiliated, "30.28% were Democrats and 27.95% were Republicans."

Mail ballots were the preferred voting method, with more than 95% of Colorado voters casting a mail ballot. Only 4.7% of voters participated in person.

Similarly, Colorado saw fewer voters cast their ballots before Election Day in 2022 than did in 2018.

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