Voter turnout lower than expected in Denver, other large counties

By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 5, 2008 at 7:52 p.m.

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Voter turnout — predicted by many to set records in the midst of a history-making presidential race — fell short in Denver and several other large counties.

It was still too early Wedneday to accurately calculate the statewide turnout, but it's possible the anticipated voter surge never happened.

Some county clerks were scratching their heads, especially in light of the unprecedented voter registration drive in Colorado.

"It's a little bit lower than we anticipated, quite frankly, and I really don't have an answer for that," said Douglas County Clerk and Recorder Jack Arrowsmith. "I don't know whether people were watching the national news toward the end and saying, 'It doesn't really make any difference,' or what the reason was."

Roughly 138,000 people voted in Douglas County, but less than 17,000 of them went to the polls on Tuesday.

Statewide, the latest figures compiled by the Secretary of State's Office showed just over 2 million people voted — less than the 2.1 million who cast ballots in the 2004 presidential election. And while that number will grow as counties tally ballots that remained uncounted late Wednesday, it may not surpass the 2004 total by much.

That's a far cry from what county clerks and other election watchers expected going into Tuesday.

Already, 1.7 million people — more than half of Colorado's registered voters — had cast ballots, either through the mail or at early voting centers.

Given the intense interest in thehard-fought presidential and U.S. Senate races, and with more than 291,000 new voters having registered since May, many experts expected turnout to rocket past that of 2004.

In Denver, about 64 percent of the 415,000 voters on the rolls cast ballots.

Michael Scarpello, Denver's elections director, said he was surprised at the low numbers on Election Day, when about 55,000 people actually went to the polls.

"We were prepared for a large turnout, and frankly, most of our people were like, 'Wow, this is easy,'" Scarpello said. "The only lines that I know of were at 7 a.m. in the morning. Other than that there were no lines."

Turnout is higher when it is considered against the number of "active" voters — those who cast a ballot in the most-recent even-year election.

In the 2004 election, 79 percent of active voters in Denver cast ballots. In this election, the figure was 84.5 percent in Denver.

Some clerks have argued that the number of registered voters on the rolls is actually inflated because it doesn't take into account people who should have been purged from the books but weren't. At the same time, at least some voters not on the active list likely showed up and cast ballots.

In Jefferson County, 96 percent of active voters cast ballots in this election, said Josh Liss, deputy of elections.

But voters who are registered but not "active" are allowed to cast ballots. And when that is taken into consideration, the turnout in Jefferson County drops to 78 percent — still a high number, but lower than some had expected.

Ditto Larimer County, where turnout was 75 percent.

"It was a little lower than we thought — but that's pretty good turnout," said Clerk and Recorder Scott Doyle.

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