October 21, 2010 12:12 AM UTC

Fresh and Hot: First General Election Turnout Numbers

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• by: Colorado Pols

THURSDAY UPDATE: The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder writes:

Democrats are happy with early vote totals in general, but the news appears grim in Colorado, where Republicans have requested and returned more ballots than Democrats. However, a look behind the numbers shows something slightly different.

There is no Republican surge/tsunami/wave/upwelling/flood/what-have-you.

Democrats are “losing” statewide, but they’re losing at a pace that is similar to the pace they were losing in 2008, when they won the state. Democrats say that their voter rolls have shrunk, generally, because they’ve tended to them well — and because 50,000 voters have moved out of state.

A few points: there are more Republicans on the permanent absentee list, so it doesn’t surprise either Democrats or Republicans that the total number of ballots returned will favor Republicans. However, of regular midterm voters, Democrats are casting ballots at a slightly higher rate than Republicans…

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The Secretary of State’s Office has just provided the first batch of ballot numbers for the General Election. Read the complete PDF for more details, but here’s the nitty and the gritty:

As of October 20, 2010

195,293 Total Ballots Counted

(There are 3,258,098 total registered voters in Colorado as of Oct. 1, 2010)

Democrats: 71,325

– 7% of all registered Democrats

– 9% of “active” Democrats

Republicans: 81,545

– 7.5% of all registered Republicans

– 9% of “active” Republicans”

Unaffiliated: 41,068

– 4% of total registered Unaffiliated voters

– 5% of “active” Unaffiliated voters