No, I didn’t earn my “I Voted” sticker yesterday.
The three adults in my household nearly always cast our ballots, when given a chance to vote in federal, state, or local elections.
Since we’re all registered ‘Unaffiliated’ we have the opportunity, here in Colorado, to vote in either the Republican primaries, or the Democratic primaries.
None of us voted in yesterday’s primary election. That’s unusual.
Nevertheless, I was curious enough about the results to visit the Secretary of State’s website this morning and find out if anyone bothered to vote.
Turns out, Colorado as a whole had a rather modest turnout for the primary election… with slightly less than 25% of the state’s active voters casting a ballot. The participation in Archuleta County was a bit higher, with about 35% of active voters turning in their ballots.
In the race for the 3rd Congressional District — the U.S. House of Representatives seat that (theoretically) represents most of western and southwestern Colorado and is currently occupied by Lauren Boebert — Democrat Adam Frisch ran unopposed as the Democratic Party candidate. On the Republican side, Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd came out in front of a crowded field that included former state Rep. Ron Hanks, who had been promoted by Democrats (who saw him as the weaker opponent in November?) Mr. Hurd garnered about 41% of the vote.
In other races, Lauren Boebert won the Republican spot on the ticket in Congressional District 4, covering most of eastern Colorado. She moved out of Republican-leaning District 3 earlier this year, to run in a district that has an even higher percentage of Republican voters, and she bested five other Republican candidates, winning about 43% of the vote.
She was nearly defeated in her District 3 run two years ago, by Democrat Adam Frisch.
Another interesting contest took place in Congressional District 5 — Colorado Springs — where radio host Jeff Crank easily beat Dave Williams, chair of the Colorado Republican Party.
The 5th District seat is being vacated by U.S. Representative Doug Lamborn, who announced in January he would not seek reelection after representing the district since 2007. Crank clobbered Williams in campaign fundraising, benefiting from almost $1.5 million in outside spending on his campaign.
Colorado voters also had a chance to vote, yesterday, on State Board of Education candidates and university regents. Those are races I rarely follow — although I suppose our schools and universities are creating the next generation of voters…
Or non-voters…?
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.