Pitkin County 2025 coordinated election sees higher voter turnout than similar years prior

Pitkin County’s coordinated election this year saw higher turnout than similar coordinated elections that took place in “off-years,” meaning elections that principally ask voters to weigh in on local issues. 

“(Coordinated elections) don’t have the state and federal candidates that create a lot of energy,” Ingrid Grueter, clerk and recorder at Pitkin County, said. “However, we had 15 entities from county, municipal, and special districts, and I think that may have engaged more people.” 

Out of the almost 14,000 registered voters in Pitkin County, nearly 6,000 of them voted Nov. 4, a 43% voter turnout. Similar elections in 2023 and 2021 had smaller turnouts, 38% and 40%, respectively, according to data from a Pitkin County press release. 

Grueter chalked this up to this year having one of the “longer” ballots that has ever been drafted for a Pitkin County coordinated election. 

“When we put our ballot together, we had one of the longest ballots in the state,” Grueter said. “We had way more things on our ballot to vote on, so there were many more districts that were on the ballot.”

In this particular election, the questions on the ballot in Pitkin County were met with affirmative votes from the majority of voters, in many cases by wide margins. 

The statewide propositions were affirmed by 40 points, Pitkin County’s bond question was approved by 25 points, and many of Aspen questions and Aspen School District questions had “yes” votes more than 10 points higher than the “no” votes. The Aspen Fire District property tax, Issue 6B, was approved by more than 60 points. 

Compared to mid-term and presidential elections, voter turnout this year was still much lower. In 2024, Pitkin County had close to 11,000 of the almost 14,000 registered voters show up to vote, a turnout of around 80%. 

Nationally, 2024 had a voter turnout of 65%, according to Census.gov. 

Pitkin County continues to cast most votes on Election Day, whether it be by drop-box or voting booth. 

“The way (ballots) were coming back last week, we thought we were going to be way low, but it all happened on Tuesday,” Grueter said. “We wish people would drop their ballot sooner because there’s a lot of work to be done.” 

The results of this election are still unofficial and will remain that way until after the “cure” period. In late November, election officials from both parties will review and sign off on the election.