Votes in two tight Colorado congressional races continue to be counted and remain too close to call along with the fates of eight statewide ballot measures.
It’s unclear when results in those races and several state and local races will be final. New results are rolling in sporadically and are being posted to the secretary of state’s results page. You can follow the results at The Colorado Sun’s election page. The Sun is relying on The Associated Press to call races when enough votes on one side in a contest show a definitive winner.
Some races could take days. In the June 30 primary election, a winner in the GOP gubernatorial race wasn’t announced for nine days.
As of 5:25 p.m. Thursday, here are the major outstanding races we are tracking:
Congressional races
3rd District: Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd vs. Democrat Dwayne Romero.
Hurd leads with 49.3% of votes. Romero has 47.4%. Libertarian candidate Cory Robertson has 1.7% and unaffiliated candidate Clifton Brown has 1.6%.
4th District: Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert vs. Democrat Eileen Laubacher.
Laubacher leads with 48.8%. Boebert has 48%. Libertarian candidate Douglas Mangeris has 3.3%.
Statewide ballot measures
Amendment 85: Would require state and local ballot questions to use language no more complex than an eighth-grade reading level. 51% in favor. This amendment requires 55% of votes to pass because it adds language to the state constitution.
Amendment 86: Would add requirements for congressional redistricting outside the normal once-a-decade process. 53% against. This amendment requires 55% of votes to pass because it adds language to the state constitution.
Amendment 87: Would replace the flat state income tax with a graduated tax rate, raising taxes on higher earners. 51% in favor. Amendment 87 does not require 55% approval even though it changes the state constitution because it removes language rather than adding to it.
Proposition 132: Would increase criminal penalties for fentanyl possession and sales. 53% in favor.
Proposition 135: Would ban gender-related surgeries for minors. 52% in favor.
Proposition 136: Would cap the state income tax rate at 4.4%. 53% against.
Proposition 137: Would redirect existing tax revenue to land management and conservation. 51% in favor.
Final votes counted next week
Some mail ballots received by the end of Election Day can’t be counted until voters correct problems with them. Usually that means they forgot to sign the ballot envelope or their signature didn’t match the one on file with county clerks. Voters usually have until the eighth day after an election to fix problem ballots, a process known as “curing.” But this year the eighth day falls on Veterans Day so they have an extra day, until the end of Nov. 12, to confirm that they cast those ballots. That’s also the deadline to return military and overseas ballots so they can be counted too.
When Boebert was in another tight race against Democrat Adam Frisch in the 3rd Congressional District in 2022, an army of volunteers and Democratic and Republican party officials doggedly tracked down voters with problem ballots to help them fix them so their ballots could be counted.
In Colorado, the names of voters who need to fix their ballots are public information compiled in a “rejected cure list,” according to Boulder County’s elections office, which is among the counties that publishes the information online.
With only about 2,700 votes separating Laubacher and Boebert Thursday afternoon, they could do the same again this year.
While it’s not known how many military or overseas ballots could still be returned, there are about 1,800 ballots that could be cured and counted in Douglas County, though small slivers of the county are not in the 4th District. Laubacher is leading there, with about 54% of the vote in Douglas so far. Douglas County was still counting ballots on Thursday, mostly ones cast in person on Election Day, said Laura Skirde, a spokesperson for the Douglas County Office of Clerk and Recorder.
Weld County, where Boebert has received 57.5% of the vote, has 474 ballots in the 4th District race that could be counted if voters fix problems with them, clerk Carly Koppes said. All other ballots cast in the race have been counted, she said.
In Cheyenne County, where Boebert has won nearly 82% of the 825 ballots counted, there are another 16 ballots that haven’t been tallied so far because of problems with signatures, clerk Allison Brown said.
If any race becomes so tight that it depends on cured ballots, there won’t be a winner until Nov. 13, which falls on a Friday, due to the length of time voters have to fix issues.
The final batches of cured ballots and overseas ballots will be counted around the state on Nov. 13, along with other ballots that have been held back to be counted with them. That’s to ensure that no one would be able to determine which votes may have made the difference in a close race.
Type of Story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.