Logan County turnout hits 39% in Colorado primary election

Logan County voters reached a 39% turnout in Tuesday’s Colorado primary, a showing that put the county squarely in the middle of Northeast Colorado and suggested steady participation in a midyear election. The figure landed below several neighboring counties, but it also showed more engagement than some of the region’s lower-turnout areas.

Washington County led the area at 53%, followed by Sedgwick County and Yuma County at 48% each and Phillips County at 45%. Logan County finished ahead of Morgan County’s 29% and Weld County’s 25%, a spread that points to sharp local differences in how voters responded to the primary ballot. Logan County has also seen a 43% turnout in another election, giving Tuesday’s result a familiar but not exceptional place in the county’s recent voting pattern.

The statewide ballot count helps explain why interest stayed alive late in the cycle. The Colorado Secretary of State said 1,125,429 ballots had been returned statewide by 2 p.m. June 30, up from 322,202 ballots on June 22. The office said it would keep issuing daily primary ballot updates through Wednesday, July 8, and the final stretch came after the suggested June 22 deadline to return a ballot by mail. After that date, voters were directed to use a voter center, a drop box or in-person voting.

The primary also featured a crowded set of races that reached well beyond Denver and into small-county politics. On the Democratic side, John Hickenlooper led Julie Gonzales in the U.S. Senate primary, Melat Kiros defeated Diana DeGette in District 1, Amanda Gonzalez prevailed over Jesse Danielson for secretary of state, and Jena Griswold outpaced her Democratic rivals in the attorney general contest. On the Republican side, Mark Baisley, Christy Peterson, Lauren Boebert, Byron Pelton and Dusty Johnson were unopposed in their races, while the governor’s contest remained close enough to raise the possibility of a recount between Barb Kirkmeyer and Victor Marx, with Scott Bottoms also taking a share of the vote.

Logan County’s election office gives residents a way to place this year’s turnout beside older cycles. The county’s public archive includes primary and general election results from 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024, and its voter service and polling location for the primary was the Logan County Courthouse at 315 Main Street in Sterling, open June 22 through June 29. That record makes it easier to see whether 39% becomes a baseline, a ceiling or a step on the way to November.