El Paso County ranks third in the state for early voter turnout

New numbers show voters are turning out in El Paso County. Right now, the county ranks third in the state for early turnout only behind Jefferson and Arapahoe counties.

Chuck Broerman the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder said this is normal, “El Paso County is one of the most populous counties in the state, us and Denver County so typically we are in the top one or two. Currently right now we are number three. ”

However, due to a large ballot and the lack of national races, Broerman says this year’s turnout is less than in 2016.

Broerman said, “We’re a little slower; you know four years ago we had a U.S. Senate Race and that generated some additional excitement and influence in returning ballots. We are hoping that over the next couple of days due to the length of the ballot that people will do their research and get that ballot back to us.”

And as for that predicted a “blue wave,” that’s not the case in El Paso County. To break it down, of the 104-thousand ballots, approximately 50-thousand are from Republicans, 25-thousand from Democrats and 25- thousand from unaffiliated.

So we asked the question, what exactly is motivating voters here in El Paso County.

Kim Dean who submitted her ballot today said, “I always do because it’s part of my job as a citizen.”

While Matt Lindland added, “you know I’ve wrestled through the United States of America and I coach the U.S. team. It’s what we do as Americans.

If you want your voice to be heard, and you have not registered to vote you have up until Election Day to do so .