2020 Colorado elections

Colorado state elections in 2020 were held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The deadline to register and receive a ballot by mail in Colorado was October 26, 2020. Voters may register in person and vote or pick up a ballot at Voter Service Centers October 19 through 7 p.m. November 3, 2020. Colorado exclusively used a vote-by-mail system,^[1] although voters may choose to vote in person at Voter Service and Polling Centers (VSPCs).^[2][3]

2020 Colorado elections

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In addition to the U.S. presidential race, Colorado voters voted in the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, state executive offices,^[4] State Senate,^[5] State House,^[6] state Supreme Court,^[7] Appellate courts,^[8] local judges,^[9] state ballot measures,^[10] and municipal elections.^[11]

Federal elections

President of the United States

Main articles: 2020 United States presidential election in Colorado, 2020 Colorado Democratic presidential primary, and 2020 Colorado Republican presidential primary

Colorado has nine electoral votes in the Electoral College.^[12] Nominees for the presidential election included Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Jo Jorgensen. Joe Biden won the popular vote with 55%, winning nine pledged electoral votes.

United States Senate

Main article: 2020 United States Senate election in Colorado

Incumbent Republican Senator Cory Gardner sought reelection against Democratic former governor John Hickenlooper in the general election.^[13] John Hickenlooper won the election with 54% of the popular vote, making it a gain for the Democratic Party from the Republican Party.

United States House of Representatives

Main articles: 2020 United States House of Representatives elections and 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Colorado

Coloradans voted for seven U.S. Representatives, one from each of the state's seven congressional districts. No seats changed hands, the Democrats winning four seats and the Republicans winning three seats.

U.S. House of Representatives nominees by district

District	Democratic nominee	Republican nominee	Independent nominee	Libertarian nominee	Unity nominee
District 1	Diana DeGette, incumbent	Shane Bolling
District 2	Joe Neguse, incumbent	Charles Winn	Alex Johnson
District 3	Diane Mitsch Bush	Lauren Boebert		John Ryan Keil	Critter Milton
District 4	Ike McCorkle	Ken Buck, incumbent
District 5	Jillian Freeland	Doug Lamborn, incumbent
District 6	Jason Crow, incumbent	Steve House		Norm Olsen	Jaimie Kulikowski
District 7	Ed Perlmutter, incumbent	Casper Stockham

State elections

Colorado executive offices

Six state executive offices were up for election in Colorado: three seats for the State board of education, and three seats for the State board of regents.^[14]

State Board of Education nominees by district

District	Democratic nominee	Republican nominee	Libertarian nominee	Approval voting party nominee
District 1	Lisa Escarcega	Syndnnia Wulff	Zachary Laddison	Alan Hayman
District 3	Mayling Simpson	Joyce Rankin
District 7	Karla Esser	Nacy Pallozzi

State Board of Regents nominees by district

District	Democratic nominee	Republican nominee	Libertarian nominee	Unity nominee
District 2	Callie Rennison	Dick Murphy	Christian Vernaza
District 6	Ilana Spiegel	Richard Murray		Christopher Otwell
District 7	Nolbert Chavez

Colorado Senate

Main article: 2020 Colorado Senate election

The Colorado State Senate had 18 seats out of 35 that were up for election in the general election.^[15] The Democratic Party retained control of the Senate, gaining the 27th Senate district from the Republican Party, strengthening their majority by one seat.

Colorado House of Representatives

Main article: 2020 Colorado House of Representatives election

The Colorado House had all 65 seats up for election in the general election.^[6] The Democratic Party retained control of the House, gaining the 38th district from the Republican Party while losing the 47th district to the Republicans, resulting in no net seat change. The resulting composition was 41 Democrats and 24 Republicans.

Colorado Supreme Court

There were two judges whose terms expired on January 11, 2021, and their seats were up for retention election in the general election.^[16] These judges were Melissa Hart and Carlos Armando Samour Jr. Both were retained as judges.

Appellate Courts

There were two Colorado Court of Appeals justices whose terms expired on January 11, 2021, and their seats were up for retention election in the general election.^[17] These judges were Craig Welling and Ted C. Tow. Both were retained as justices.

Colorado ballot measures

General election

Amendments

Amendments C and 76 require 55% of voters to pass, as they add to the Colorado Constitution.

Amend. num.	Passed	Yes		No		Description
B	Yes	1,740,395	57.52%	1,285,136	42.48%	Gallagher Amendment Repeal and Property Tax Assessment Rates Measure
C	No	1,586,973	52.35%	1,444,553	47.65%	Charitable Bingo and Raffles Amendment
76	Yes	1,985,239	62.90%	1,171,137	37.10%	Citizenship Requirement for Voting Initiative
77	Yes	1,854,153	60.54%	1,208,414	39.46%	Allow Voters in Central, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek Cities to Expand Authorized Games and Increase Maximum Bets Initiative

Propositions

Prop. num.	Passed	Yes		No		Description
EE	Yes	2,134,608	67.56%	1,025,182	32.44%	Tobacco and E-Cigarette Tax Increase for Health and Education Programs Measures
113	Yes	1,644,716	52.33%	1,498,500	47.67%	National Popular Vote Interstate Compact Referendum
114	Yes	1,590,299	50.91%	1,533,313	49.09%	Gray Wolf Reintroduction Initiative
115	No	1,292,787	41.01%	1,859,479	58.99%	22-Week Abortion Ban Initiative
116	Yes	1,821,702	57.86%	1,327,025	42.14%	Decrease Income Tax Rate from 4.63% to 4.55% Initiative
117	Yes	1,573,114	52.55%	1,420,445	47.45%	Required Voter Approval of Certain New Enterprises Exempt from TABOR Initiative
118	Yes	1,804,546	57.75%	1,320,386	42.25%	Paid Medical and Family Leave Initiative

Polling

Amendment B

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	For Amendment B	Against Amendment B	Undecided
YouGov/University of Colorado[18]	October 5–9, 2020	400 (LV)[b]	–	44%	20%	36%
		400 (LV)[c]	–	24%	23%	53%
SurveyUSA/9News/Colorado Politics[19]	October 1–6, 2020	1,021 (LV)	± 3.9%	22%	17%	61%

Proposition 113

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	For Proposition 113	Against Proposition 113	Undecided
Civiqs/Daily Kos[20]	October 11–14, 2020	1,013 (LV)	± 3.6%	47%	45%	8%
YouGov/University of Colorado[18]	October 5–9, 2020	800 (LV)	± 4.64%	49%	34%	17%
SurveyUSA/9News/Colorado Politics[19]	October 1–6, 2020	1,021 (LV)	± 3.9%	39%	38%	23%

Proposition 114

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	For Proposition 114	Against Proposition 114
Colorado State University/Qualtrics/Colorado Sun[21]	August, 2019	734 (A)	± 7%	84%	16%

Proposition 115

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	For Proposition 115	Against Proposition 115	Undecided
Keating Research/Onsight Public Affairs/Colorado Sun[22]	October 29 – November 1, 2020	502 (LV)[d]	± 4.4%	38%	56%	–
Civiqs/Daily Kos[20]	October 11–14, 2020	1,013 (LV)	± 3.6%	42%	51%	7%
YouGov/University of Colorado[18]	October 5–9, 2020	800 (LV)	± 4.64%	41%	45%	14%
SurveyUSA/9News/Colorado Politics[19]	October 1–6, 2020	1,021 (LV)	± 3.9%	42%	45%	13%

Proposition 116

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	For Proposition 116	Against Proposition 116	Undecided
Civiqs/Daily Kos[20]	October 11–14, 2020	1,013 (LV)	± 3.6%	51%	35%	14%

Proposition 118

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	For Proposition 118	Against Proposition 118	Undecided
YouGov/University of Colorado[18]	October 5–9, 2020	800 (LV)	± 4.64%	65%	22%	13%
SurveyUSA/9News/Colorado Politics[19]	October 1–6, 2020	1,021 (LV)	± 3.9%	57%	21%	22%

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
2. Respondents polled with the ballot measure's wording
3. Respondents polled with a simple description of the ballot measure
4. Additional data sourced from FiveThirtyEight

See also

• Politics of Colorado
  • Colorado Democratic Party
  • Colorado Republican Party
  • Political party strength in Colorado
• Elections in Colorado
• Bilingual elections requirement for Colorado (per Voting Rights Act Amendments of 2006)^[23]
• Government of Colorado

References

1. Lily Hay Newman (August 27, 2020), "How to Vote by Mail and Make Sure It Counts", Wired.com, archived from the original on October 6, 2020
2. "Election governance in Colorado". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
3. "Elections & Campaign Finance Calendar". Colorado Secretary of State. State of Colorado. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
4. "Colorado state executive official elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
5. "Colorado State Senate elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
6. "Colorado House of Representatives elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
7. "Colorado Supreme Court elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
8. "Colorado intermediate appellate court elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
9. "Colorado local trial court judicial elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
10. "Colorado 2020 ballot measures". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
11. "United States municipal elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
12. "Distribution of Electoral Votes". National Archives. September 19, 2019. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
13. Amber Phillips (September 16, 2020), "The Senate seats most likely to flip in November", Washingtonpost.com, archived from the original on September 16, 2020
14. "Colorado state executive official elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
15. "Colorado State Senate elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
16. "Colorado Supreme Court elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
17. "Colorado intermediate appellate court elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
18. YouGov/University of Colorado
19. SurveyUSA/9News/Colorado Politics
20. Civiqs/Daily Kos
21. Colorado State University/Qualtrics/Colorado Sun Archived June 29, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
22. Keating Research/Onsight Public Affairs/Colorado Sun
23. "Covered Areas for Voting Rights Bilingual Election Materials—2015", Voting Rights Act Amendments of 2006, Determinations Under Section 203, Federal Register, retrieved October 13, 2020, A Notice by the Census Bureau on 12/05/2016

Further reading

• Hyoung Chang (March 12, 2020), "Coronavirus threatens to upend Colorado political campaigns", Denverpost.com

External links

• Colorado at Ballotpedia
• Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "Colorado", Voting & Elections Toolkits
• "Colorado 2019 & 2020 Elections", OpenSecrets
• "Colorado: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org, Oakland, CA
• "League of Women Voters of Colorado". (state affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• League of Women Voters, "Voting in my state: Colorado", Vote411.org