State and national Election Day issues like abortion rights and the economy were front of mind for Durango-area residents who lined up Tuesday to cast their ballots, as voting numbers were on track to exceed the 2020 presidential election turnout.
La Plata County saw a record of 77% turnout in 2020, and that number for 2024 was on track to hit at least 80%, if not higher, when election night ends, said County Clerk and Recorder Tiffany Lee.
As of 8:01 p.m. Tuesday, county voter turnout reached 79.1% with 34,984 total ballots being cast, including 31,753 mail-in ballots. Of that tally, 3,231 in-person ballots were cast as of 8:01 p.m., which Lee said is the highest number for in-person voting she has seen since the 2012 election cycle.
“That tells me people are pretty engaged and wanted to wait until the very end. We’ve been open for 15 days, and it’s been pretty quiet. Then (on Election Day), every site is packed. That’s exciting to me,” she said, adding that polling centers in 2024 are busier than they were in 2012.
Durango resident Ann Vesey, who voted for Kamala Harris in the presidential election, said abortion rights were the main issue that motivated her to come to the poll because she’s “very pro-choice.”
“I actually used to be a Republican. But once Trump came along, (I) went to the other side. It got to the point where I won’t even vote for any Republicans that support him, which is everyone now. So now, I vote straight Democrat,” said Vesey, who stopped voting Republican after 2016.
Aside from voting for state Amendment 79, which would codify abortion rights into Colorado’s constitution, she also voted for Amendment G, which would expand property tax exemptions for Colorado veterans, because her brother is an Army veteran.
Durango resident Bart Collins, who declined to say who he voted for in the presidential election, said the economy and manufacturing were the main issues that stood out to him when he cast his ballot.
“I’d like to see us bounce back from (the North American Free Trade Agreement),” he said. “It was a terrible hit to our economy, and we saw millions of manufacturing jobs go away to other countries.”
And although there weren’t any local and state issues on the ballot that he paid attention to, Collins said his military service also motivated him to vote.
“I think it’s a duty and a responsibility to always vote, so it’s very high importance to me, always,” said Collins, who served in the U.S. Army for eight years.
Despite the polarizing nature of this year’s election, La Plata County spokesman Ted Holteen said security at polling places was a nonissue and that operations went smoothly.
“Everyone’s been very cordial, very nice,” he said. “… It (was) busy, but no problems whatsoever. Security seems just fine.”
Just after 11:30 a.m., a line of relaxed voters began at the front of the La Plata County Fairgrounds Extension Building and stretched all the way to the back door. Some went to the back table area where election workers and poll booths were situated, while others simply dropped their ballot into the silver drop box up front.
Holteen said the La Plata County Clerk & Recorder’s Office saw about 20 people in line at a time, and they waited “amicably” and “patiently” to cast their votes.
Lee said she believes that higher in-person voting turnout stemmed from some voters’ concerns of mail-in voting leading to fraud, which she said is not true. She also said those voters believe their ballots are treated differently than by voting in-person, but the process remains the same.
“They’re all tabulated identically. But I think there’s just a big push out there to come in person on the day of the election,” she said, adding it mirrors national trends.
Incumbent La Plata County District 3 Commissioner Matt Salka, who faced challenger Paul Black in this year’s election, said he felt confident about the way his campaign – which revolved around housing, child care and infrastructure – went leading up to Election Day. Yet, he couldn’t express total confidence the end result would swing in his favor.
“I recognize that elections can be unpredictable. I respect the process and every voter’s voice,” he said. “Both campaigns really worked hard to get out there, and I feel confident on at least engaging the people.”
Efforts to reach Black for comment were not immediately successful Tuesday.
Senate District 6 incumbent Cleave Simpson and challenger Vivian Smotherman both said they felt confident about their chances, adding that areas like housing, health care and education were top of mind among voters in the region.
“People are engaged and positive,” Simpson said.
Third Congressional District candidate Adam Frisch, who competed with Jeff Hurd for the seat, said his campaign spent much of Tuesday afternoon urging people to vote, and he felt confident about his chances. Frisch operated as if CD3 would be a close race. He said his campaign spent 20 to 25 days a month driving over 75,000 miles across the Western Slope, from Durango and Telluride to Pueblo and Grand Junction, trying to reach an “independent part of the country.”
Dating back to his first run at CD3 in 2022, Frisch sought to end the cycle of “angertainment politics,” adding that CD3 voters’ concerns were “kitchen table issues” like housing and getting costs of living under control.
“People are just exhausted with national politics,” he said.
Efforts to reach Hurd were not immediately successful Tuesday afternoon.
For Smotherman, housing, health care and education were consistently top of mind among voters in the region.
Cost of living, growing water demands and “burdensome” permitting issues among builders stood out among Simpson’s constituents.
“Those kind pressures, they certainly haven’t diminished over the last 20 years,” he said.
Smotherman said Alamosa County is concerned about substance use and the number of drug-related deaths, while Montezuma County is worried about combating diabetes and keeping its hospitals open. Voters in the Durango area wanted to address higher cost of living and workforce housing.
“It’s just so expensive to be here (in Durango),” Smotherman said. “Our workforce cannot afford to live in the same town that they’re working in. That is zapping everybody.”
Salka said the cost of housing is important to voters because people want to live and stay in La Plata County. He said voters were supportive of Amendment 1A, which would reallocate lodgers tax revenue to help address workforce housing, which was on the ballot in Tuesday’s election. He also said he had not heard any pushback about 1A from residents.
“Our workforce needs places to stay and opportunities to be able to live and work here instead of commuting from New Mexico or other areas of the region to be able to provide for their families,” he said.
Salka said voters in his district – especially the unaffiliated and independent voters – were excited and ready to finalize the Election Day results so they can move on with their “day-to-day lives” and not be inundated with campaign advertisements.
“Those unaffiliated (and) independent (voters), they get the brunt of the communications,” he said.
Simpson and Smotherman are also eager to see campaign ads come to an end.
Although there are “some pockets of extreme opinions” across the district, Smotherman said such sentiments have decreased compared with the previous couple of election cycles.
“People are much more willing to talk about the issues,” Smotherman said.
The back-and-forths and badgering seen during this election cycle are something residents are eager to see come to an end.
“It’s been more divisive than any other election I can remember,” Collins said, adding the “name-calling and nastiness” was too much to take.
mhollinshead@durangoherald.com
