Eagle County’s presidential primary voting is currently running ahead of 2020’s numbers
5,549 ballots had been returned as of Feb. 27
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily archive
Colorado’s March 5 presidential primary probably won’t have much drama — the likely November matchup is President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and former President Donald Trump, a Republican. But people are still casting ballots.
According to Eagle County Clerk and Recorder Regina O’Brien, 5,549 ballots had been returned as of Feb. 27. The same period for the 2020 presidential primary saw 772 fewer ballots returned.
In all, 14,674 votes were cast in the 2020 presidential primary. Just less than half of those ballots were returned on Election Day and the day before.
That’s often the case, O’Brien said, with 30% to 40% ballots returned on Election Day.
If you’re voting in the presidential primary, the best way to cast a ballot is to leave it at one of seven drop boxes around the county. Those 24-hour boxes are all monitored, and are in Basalt, El Jebel, Gypsum, at the town hall, Eagle, at the Eagle County Administrative Building, Edwards, at the field house, Avon on the east side of the Lodge at Avon Center and Vail, at the town hall.
Support Local Journalism
If you’d like to vote in person there are voter service centers in El Jebel, in Eagle at the county building, Edwards at the field house, Avon Town Hall and the Grand View Room atop the Lionshead parking structure in Vail.
It’s too late to mail your presidential primary ballot. Ballots must be returned by March 5 at 7 p.m., to either one of the county’s five voter centers or one of the seven 24-hour ballot drop boxes.
For more information, go to the elections page on the Eagle County Clerk and Recorder’s website.
O’Brien noted that ballots can also be left at drop boxes in other Colorado counties.
Ballot counting for county-run elections is consistent. Ballots that come in before Election Day are processed and run through the tabulation machines. Mailed-in ballots are subject to signature verification.
Want the news to come to you? Get the top stories in your inbox every morning. Sign up here: VailDaily.com/newsletter
In primaries, ballots are broken down by party. Unaffiliated voters can vote in primaries, but only for candidates from one party. Casting a primary ballot doesn’t mean that the voter has declared a party affiliation. O’Brien said an unaffiliated voter can cast a ballot for one party in a presidential primary and the other party in the state primary in June.
Unaffiliated voters receive ballots for both Democratic and Republican primaries, but can only vote for one party’s candidates. If someone votes both ballots, neither one counts.
