Polls close at 9 p.m. ET in a state that votes mostly by mail
Colorado voters will fill federal, state and local offices on Tuesday, choosing a U.S. senator, a governor, U.S. House members, statewide officers, state legislators and members of regional and state boards. Polls close at 7 p.m. local time, which is 9 p.m. ET.
The Associated Press said it will provide vote results and declare winners in races for U.S. Senate, governor, U.S. House, attorney general, secretary of state and state treasurer, as well as statewide ballot measures, state Senate and state House contests, and elections for the Regional Transportation District board of directors, the State Board of Education and the University of Colorado Board of Regents.
The overview comes from the AP’s Decision Team, which compiled the key facts and data points it will monitor as votes are tallied.
About 2.5 million votes were cast in Colorado’s 2022 race for the U.S. Senate, the state’s last midterm election, according to the AP.
Elections in Colorado are conducted predominantly by mail. The AP publishes an advance vote tracker with the latest advance vote totals for the state.
In most Colorado counties, the first vote update of the night tends to include a mix of results from mail, early in-person and Election Day in-person voting, according to the AP. Because Colorado elections are conducted primarily by mail, mail voting results are released throughout the night, along with results from other voting methods.
The 2024 general election offers a measure of how quickly the count can move. First results were reported starting at 9:05 p.m. ET on Nov. 5, five minutes after polls closed, according to the AP. The state reached 50% of votes reporting at 9:43 p.m. ET that night, and 90% of votes reporting at 8:11 p.m. ET on Nov. 7.
The AP said it does not make projections and declares a winner only when it has determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP said it will continue to cover newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory, while making clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explaining why.
In Colorado, an automatic recount is triggered if the margin between the top two vote-getters is 0.5% or less of the leading candidate’s vote total. Even in a race subject to a recount, the AP said it may declare a winner if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
The AP’s coverage of the 2026 election, including results from Colorado’s races, is collected on the organization’s elections project page.