Denver’s Election In Progress Status Report

Click here for numbers on El Paso County

A total of 12,277 votes have been cast in Denver through the close of business yesterday.  Another 52,816 absentee ballots had been requested, but not yet returned.  At the current rate, another 5,000 or more absentee ballot will be requested before the election is over.  Absentee voting in Denver is on track to break the record 66,314 cast in the 2000 Presidential election.Early voting in Denver has been held this week in Denver at the Webb Municipal Office Building at 201 W. Colfax Ave.  It expands to five additional locations next week.  The last day to request an absentee ballot by mail in Denver is October 31, 2006.

Democrats have voted far more often so far than Republicans in Denver as a whole, but Democrats have only a narrow lead in the critical House District 1 race, where Democrat Jeanne Labuda faces Republican Aimee Rathburn is a targetted race for an open seat.

According to the Denver Election Commission, the numbers, as of the close of business Tuesday, are as follows:

Absentee Voting

Total absentee ballot requests: 64,043
Total completed absentee ballots: 11,227
Daily average outgoing absentee ballots: 2,500 

Approximately 20,000 ballots mailed since the Sequoia batch.

Early Voting

Unofficial early voters:

10/25/2006: 500
10/24/2006: 524
10/23/2006: 523

Numbers that show the break down of those voting by party affiliation in Denver. through Tuesday,are as follows:

Democrats: 4,604
Republicans: 2,619
Unaffilated Voters: 1,592
Libertarians: 22
Green Party members: 12
Other Party Affiliation: 1

About 8% of the District’s voters are  Arapahoe County, but that part of Arapahoe County actually leans more strongly Democratic than the Denver part of the District, the votes cast in House District 1’s Denver portion break down by voter party affiliation as follows:

Democrats: 507
Republicans: 412
Unaffiliated: 249
Liberarians: 3

Conventional wisdom holds that absentee and early voters tend to be more conservative than election day voters, at least in high turnout elections.