Aside from being the fittest state in the nation, Colorado may be the most civic-minded as well. The Centennial State’s 87% voter registration rate is the highest in the United States.
This month’s voter registration report shows about 3.04 million active voters, with approximately 973,000 active Democrats, 976,000 active Republicans, and just under 1.1 million unaffiliated/other registration. Only these active voters will receive a ballot in the mail next month.
There are approximately 636,000 so-called inactive voters, who are still registered and eligible to vote, but they will not have a ballot sent to their home. A voter becomes “inactive” in Colorado if election mail is returned to the county elections division by the U.S. mail.
According to Magellan Strategies, the inactive voters are largely comprised of younger and unaffiliated people. This is an important distinction this year, because 2016 is the first presidential year that Colorado will be operating under new rules, where inactive voters will not receive a ballot in the mail, and this could be reasonably be expected to influence voter turnout in this group.
While the number of active registered Republicans and Democrats is almost equal, there are about 14% more inactive Democrats then there are Republicans. Also, unaffiliated voters are over-represented in the inactive voter pool, as they account for about 43% of the total. This could throw off Clinton’s turnout model as she works overtime to court younger and less politically engaged voters.