Officials in Denver are pushing to vote before Election Day to avoid backlogs

That’s what election officials in Denver say the vote counting process will likely be extended for days after Election Day due to high interest and long voting in the city.

But voters can Denver Elections Department can provide a clearer picture of the election results on Tuesday evening by returning their ballots earlier, either over the weekend or on Monday.

“Because there are so many ballots coming in at the same time on Election Day, this could potentially cause a backlog,” Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Office spokeswoman Mikayla Ortega said Friday. “If you vote on Election Day, your ballot will likely not be counted until the next day or days after that.”

In Denver, tens of thousands of voters typically wait until the last day to return their ballot or vote.

This year, through Thursday, the clerk’s office had received 165,969 ballots from Denver voters, according to the the city’s online dashboard. That’s 468,570 actively registered voters – good for a 35% turnout rate so far among those who received ballots.

The clerk’s office expects final turnout in these elections to be between 80 and 90%, Ortega said. In the 2020 presidential election, 87% of active voters in Denver cast ballots, according to final results reported by the clerk’s office. (That is slightly higher than an actual turnout figure that takes into account inactive voters who are still on the list.)

Denver uses a multi-tiered ballot processing system that includes mechanical collation, manual signature verification by trained staffers and handling to prepare anonymous ballots for scanning and tabulation once voting ends Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“That’s a lot of work,” Ortega said, requiring each three-page, double-sided ballot to be prepared. “It takes a lot of time, so we really encourage people to vote early.”

The deadline to return ballots to the Division of Elections in time for counting has passed, but there are still multiple ways to return them or vote before Tuesday.

Voters can bring in their sealed and signed ballots numerous drop boxes spread across the city or take them to one of the more than twenty voter services and polling stations active now. They can also obtain replacements for damaged ballots, register to vote and vote in person at those centers.

Another 15 centers will open on Monday and Tuesday. A map of all dropbox and in-person voting locations can be found at denvergov.org/Maps/map/electionservices.