As the deadline looms for the 2024 general election, local voter turnout is down from 2020 rates but remains high heading into the weekend.

There have been 1.73 million votes cast across Colorado as of the end of Thursday, the Secretary of State’s Office reported. Return rates across the board are roughly 75% of the votes cast at this point in the 2020 election.

The biggest volume of early vote returns come from El Paso County and Jefferson County, both of which have received more than 200,000 ballots as of Friday. El Paso has seen 206,729 voters, or 42% of all active voters, return their ballots as of Thursday night.

The largest share of votes cast in the county so far have come from unaffiliated voters, who have returned 85,800 ballots as of Thursday. Registered Republicans follow their turnout with 75,000 returned ballots and registered Democrat voters have returned around 42,200 ballots.

County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker said last week that his office expected turnout to eventually approach 90%. Schleiker said the intensity of the presidential race and the sheer number of issues on the local ballot may be causing voters to wait until closer to Election Day to return their ballots.

Teller County reported 9,877 votes cast as of Thursday and a 51% return rate for the current election. The county’s largest share of votes so far has been from registered Republicans.

Teller County Clerk Stephanie Kees said the turnout from voters was on track to match the last two presidential elections. The average daily returns this year were in between the 1,000 ballots per day rate in the 2016 election and the 1,200 ballots per day rate in the 2020 election.

People can continue to register to vote or update their voter information through Election Day. Voters are advised to visit one of the Voter Service and Polling Centers across El Paso County to register, change their registration or receive a replacement ballot. The county elections office brought an additional 18 VSPC locations online Friday and will have 38 centers open Monday and Tuesday.

Ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Tuesday in order to be counted. Voters can return their ballots in a drop box or at one of the Voter Service and Polling Centers. Ballots returned by mail will likely not arrive before the Tuesday night deadline.

Voters can look up ballot return locations in El Paso County at http://clerkandrecorder.elpasoco.com/elections/ballot-drop-boxes-vspc-locations. They can look up return options in Teller County at https://tellercounty.gov/Elections