Boulder County votes overwhelmingly blue

This year, 3,207,983 votes were cast across Colorado, resulting in a voter turnout rate of 84.83%. Boulder County's rate was comparable at 84.81%, with 230,721 votes cast. Traditionally seen as a more liberal part of the state, the Boulder County results tend to lean blue this election cycle.

The average turnout across the sixteen precincts that make up the Courier's readership was 90.74%, higher than both the county and state rates. Of those sixteen precincts, the lowest turnout was 80.87% and the highest was 94.47%.

In Boulder County the Biden-Harris ticket swept the Trump-Pence ticket at 77.58% compared to a 20.29%. The remainder of the votes for the presidential race were sprinkled among the other candidates, but these third party votes were fairly minimal.

The U.S. senate race between John Hickenlooper and Cory Gardner saw similar numbers to the presidential race. In fact, most of the national seats had the Democratic candidates, such as Joe Neguse and Ike McCorkle, at 70% or more compared to their Republican opponents.

One surprise came with the Board of Regents race--Callie Rennison, a Democrat, won the seat with 78.19% of the vote. This is a historic flip of the board, with Democrats likely to have control for the first time in 40 years.

Similarly, the Niwot and Gunbarrel communities will be represented by newly elected State Senator (District 18) Steve Fenberg and newly elected State Representative (District 11) Karen McCormick, both of whom are Democrats.

Both county commissioner seats were won handily by the Democratic candidates Claire Levy (District 1) and Marta Loachamin (District 2). Loachamin's win is particularly historic as she is the first ever Latina to serve on the board.

As for the ballot issues, Boulder County voters tended to follow the rest of the state's example, with the notable deviance being Amendment 76. This amendment, which will change the Colorado Constitution so that only a citizen can vote effectively cutting out 17-year-olds who were previously able to vote in primary elections provided that they turn 18 by the general election, was rejected by 59.27% of Boulder County voters, but won statewide by a large margin.

Other notable deviances from the statewide results were with Propositions 116 and 117. Proposition 116 (60.63% of local voters said "no") lowers the state income tax and 117 (63.01% of local voters said "no") will expand TABOR.

Locally, the St. Vrain and Left Hand Water Conservancy issue (7A) passed with support from 69.88% of voters. This measure will increase the mill levy for the district. This is a notable exception, because according to its website, the Conservancy District has never asked for additional funds, despite water demands rising.

"We have seen the impacts of a changing climate this year including drought and record-setting wildfires," said Executive Director of the Left Hand Watershed Center Jessie Olson. "We are thrilled that voters within the St. Vrain and Left Hand Conservancy District have chosen to protect clean water and healthy forests and rivers."

For more local election results, including results for previous elections, visit https://www.bouldercounty.org/elections/. Precinct level results will be posted later this month.