2026 elections: Early vote update (through 10/26)
This post is an update of my last one (please refer to that post for more details about the data and the charts). We are now just one week out from Election Day, and the data in the charts is updated through October 26.
In the interim, I was able to get access to data from Broomfield and Mesa counties (but I still haven't heard back from El Paso).
Total returns
Nearly a quarter of Coloradans' ballots have been processed by as of the end of day on Monday this week (10/26).
Share of ballots that have been processed by day ...
Democratic affiliators have maintained their lead in ballot returns during this period.
Share of ballots returned by partisan affiliation...
Partisan advantage among different groups of voters
Over the past week, there have been large increases in turnout among Gen Z and Millennial registrants. As of 10/22, only 5% of Gen Z had returned their ballots. That figure has doubled to 10% today. The increase among Millennials was not so dramatic, but still outpaced older generations of voters (though these two youngest groups of voters still lag significantly behind their older counterparts).
Nearly all groups of voters in the chart below have seen the Democratic advantage difference between those who have returned their ballots and the larger group of all registrants shrink somewhat reflecting the increase in Republicans who have been returning their ballots somewhat later than Democrats. However, as was the case a week ago, those who have returned their ballots remain significantly more Democratic overall in their partisan balance compared to those who have not voted.
