BY FREDA MIKLIN
GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
According to the records of the Arapahoe County Clerk’s office, there were 460,417 total registered voters in Arapahoe County as of election day, November 2, 2021. Of that total, 418,309 were considered to be eligible voters. A registered voter who is not listed as an eligible voter might be someone who never canceled their registration but has not voted for several years, someone who is 16 or 17 and registered but cannot yet vote, or a confidential voter who asked that their information be kept private.
The total turnout for the election was 156,309 voters, which is 37.5% of eligible voters. Although 36% of voters who cast ballots in this election were unaffiliated, 35% were registered Democrats and 29% were registered Republicans, if you compare the number of actual voters with total voter registration in the county, the results tell a different story. Of the total registered voters in Arapahoe County, 45% of all registered Republicans turned out for this election, while just 37% of registered Democrats and only 27% of unaffiliated voters showed up.
The Villager calculated the breakdown of the ages of voters who participated in this election. It followed a typical pattern for off-year elections without an extraordinary issue or candidate. The largest number of voters, 33%, were aged 61-75, followed by the 46-60-year-old age group, who comprised 26% of the voter turnout. The 30-45-year-olds cast 21% of the votes in this election, while the 76 and over voters accounted for 13% of votes cast and the 18-29-year-old cohort comprised only 7% of the total number of voters.
The other interesting factoid about this election was that, according to the Arapahoe County Clerk’s office, 65,461 votes, or 42% of all votes cast, were placed in drop boxes around the county on November 2, election day. That influx on the last day of voting, according to Peg Perl, Arapahoe County Deputy Director of Elections, was responsible for the fact that it took until the close of business on Thursday, November 4, to get all ballots counted that were turned in by 7:00 p.m. on election day. The only ballots still outstanding as of November 5 are those that could still arrive from overseas and defective ballots that need to be cured. All those must be received and finalized by November 10, after which this election will be over, subject to a final canvas.
fmiklin.villager@gmail.com