Denver election officials say the vote-counting process is likely to extend for days after Election Day because of high interest and a long city ballot.
But voters can help the Denver Elections Division provide a clearer picture of election results on Tuesday night by turning in their ballots sooner, either over the weekend or on Monday.
“Because so many ballots come in at the same time on Election Day, it could potentially cause a backlog,” Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Office spokeswoman Mikayla Ortega said Friday. “If you’re voting on Election Day, your ballot likely won’t be counted until the next day or until the days thereafter.”
In Denver, tens of thousands of voters typically wait until the final day to return ballots or vote.
This year, the clerk’s office had received 165,969 ballots from Denver voters through Thursday, according to the city’s online dashboard. That’s out of 468,570 active registered voters — good for a turnout rate of 35% thus far among those who received ballots.
The clerk’s office is projecting a final turnout rate of between 80 and 90% in this election, Ortega said. In the 2020 presidential election, 87% of active Denver voters cast ballots, according to the final results reported by the clerk’s office. (That’s slightly higher than a true turnout figure that would take into account inactive voters who are still on the rolls.)
Denver utilizes a multitiered ballot processing system that includes mechanical sorting, manual signature verification by trained staffers, and handling to prepare anonymous ballots for scanning and tabulation once voting ends at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“That’s a lot of work,” Ortega said — involving the preparation of each three-page, double-sided ballot to be tabulated. “It takes a lot of time, which is why we are really pushing people to vote early.”
The deadline to mail ballots back to the Elections Division in time to be counted has passed, but there are still multiple ways to turn them in or cast votes ahead of Tuesday.
Voters can place their sealed and signed ballots in numerous drop boxes scattered across the city or bring them to one of the more than two dozen voter service and polling centers operating now. They can also obtain replacements for damaged ballots, register to vote and vote in person at those centers.
Another 15 centers will open on Monday and Tuesday. A map of all drop box and in-person voting locations can be found at denvergov.org/Maps/map/electionservices.
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The clerk’s office is fully staffed up on election workers, Ortega said. A final election judge training will take place on Saturday.
A final preliminary count of ballots will likely take until early the week following the election, Ortega said. That accounts for the time needed to receive ballots from deployed military members and absentee voters as well the time offered to voters who need to cure issues with their ballots, such as signature discrepancies.
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