The Secretary of State has released the ballot returns through November 1, showing Republicans retaining a nearly three-point lead and independent voters starting to cast their votes at slightly higher rates.

Total ballots cast: 1,305,885

R – 493,457 (37.8%)

D – 457,337 (35.0%)

U – 341,920 (26.2%)

Five days out and it doesn’t appear the vaunted Obama ground game is coming to save the President in Colorado. The three-point lead in early balloting has held pretty steady throughout every ballot return report released.

Check out the full county-by-county breakdown of who has returned their ballot based on their political party registration here.

Republicans retain a healthy lead in all three major swing counties, with them up 6,437 in Jefferson County, 5,711 in Larimer County and 2,354 in Arapahoe County.

The latest Rasmussen poll on Colorado, released today (more on that later), has Romney up 50%-47% based on polling done Monday.

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For those interested in the trends, check out previous ballot return reports from Oct. 31, Oct. 30, Oct. 29, Oct. 26, Oct. 25, Oct. 24 and Oct. 23.