Election Day in Denver: about a third of ballots were in by Sunday night. Here's how that compares

Denver voters had returned 159,191 ballots through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, according to the Colorado Secretary of State's daily report released Monday, the latest available when this was written Tuesday morning. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. today, Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Why it matters: Denver's ballot includes a citywide special election for the open at-large City Council seat and several city ballot questions, as our ballot guide explains. With 10 candidates and no runoff, the at-large winner may need only a modest share of the vote, so who turns out matters.

The numbers so far

The Denver Elections Division mailed more than 467,000 ballots to active registered voters, Denver7 reported in October. Sunday's count is about 34% of that.

Statewide, voters had returned 1,599,988 ballots. That is about 39% of the state's 4,081,590 active registered voters, using the state's own voter counts in the same report's spreadsheet. The two percentages use slightly different bases, ballots mailed in Denver and active voters statewide, so treat the comparison as rough.

The state's own comparison shows statewide returns one day before Election Day at 39.2% of active voters, against 51.9% at the same point in 2024, 35.1% in 2022 and 44.8% in 2018, according to the same release. 2024 was a presidential election year; 2018 and 2022, like this year, were not.

Denver's count has grown steadily over the last week, according to the state's daily spreadsheets:

• Through Oct. 27: 100,504 ballots, 9.1% of the state's total (release).
• Through Oct. 28: 112,672, 9.2%.
• Through Oct. 29: 124,779, 9.3%.
• Through Nov. 1: 159,191, 10%.

Denver added 34,412 ballots over the three days from Friday through Sunday. Nearly all of the city's returned ballots so far are mail ballots; in-person votes account for 3,412, about 2%.

By party registration, 79,137 of Denver's returned ballots came from registered Democrats, 64,579 from unaffiliated voters and 13,391 from registered Republicans, the spreadsheet shows. The state does not report how anyone voted until results begin posting after polls close tonight.

Axios Denver reported on Oct. 28 that early turnout in Denver was running soft compared with the rest of the state.

What election officials expect

City election officials said they were preparing for turnout of roughly 80%, which they called unusual outside a presidential year, and that they expected 40% to 50% of mailed ballots to arrive in the final days, Denver7 reported. If those projections hold, more than half of Denver's ballots have yet to come in.

Two reminders from the same report: ballots must be received by 7 p.m. Tuesday, so it is too late to mail one, and an unsigned envelope cannot be counted. Voters can drop ballots at any of Denver's drop boxes or a voter service and polling center, which are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day. Find locations through the Denver Elections Division.

What our records add: why the at-large count matters at City Hall

The winner joins a Council that has split 6-6 and 7-6 on major votes in the past year, from the 2026 budget to a police license plate camera contract. Our story on close votes one seat can tip lists them.

But the new member will not vote on the 2027 budget. The city's tentative timeline puts certification and swearing-in on Nov. 24, after the Council's final budget votes on Nov. 9, as we explained last week.

What's next

• Tonight, 7 p.m.: Polls and drop boxes close. Counties upload unofficial results through the night to the state's election night reporting site, the Secretary of State said. Ballots that arrived before Election Day will likely be counted and reported first, so early returns can shift as later ballots are added.
• Through Nov. 12: Voters whose ballots have a signature problem can fix it, and the state updates results at least once each weekday, according to the same release.
• Nov. 24: Tentative certification and swearing-in of the at-large winner.