The 2020 election has been certified in Colorado

//The 2020 Election results are now official and final after certification on Dec. 8. Illustration by Madison Lauterbach | mlauterbach@msmayhem.com

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold certified the 2020 election results Dec. 8, according to the Secretary of State’s office. This means that Colorado’s election results are official and final. 

Following the election, the office of the Secretary of State, alongside the state’s county clerks, conducted a state-wide audit of the results. Once the audit was concluded, the canvass boards of each county certified the results of their respective counties and submitted their final results. According to the office of the Secretary of State, once every county has certified and submitted their results, the election outcome is deemed “official.”

The race for the 18th Judicial District was the only election that required a recount, which was compulsory rather than requested. According to the office of the Secretary of State, if the vote difference between candidates is less than or equal to one-half of one percent of the highest vote count, an automatic recount is required.

Total Colorado turnout was 3,291,548 voters, “setting the highest record number of voters participating in any election held in state history,” Griswold said in a press release, a notable feat in the face of the pandemic. Though Colorado has offered universal mail-in voting since 2013, the necessity of having a socially-distanced system was not felt across the state until this year when the pandemic struck. Having a pre-existing mail-in system ensured that voting remained accessible to the majority of Coloradans. 

As of November 2020, there were 4,261,765 registered voters in Colorado, meaning the voter turnout of the 2020 election in Colorado was roughly 77.23%. 

Over three million ballots were cast by mail or drop-off boxes, while only roughly 200,000 ballots were cast in-person. 128,868 more women voted than men in Colorado, and more voters were registered as independent than any other party, including Democratic and Republican.

“The 2020 General Election will be remembered as one of the most challenging and successful elections in our state’s history,” Griswold said. 

The full election results for the state of Colorado can be viewed here.