EL PASO COUNTY — The El Paso County Clerk and Recorder's office has a sense of "enthusiasm" coursing through it as election judges prepared for the midterm election, according the Chuck Broerman, County Clerk and Recorder.
"This is what we were built for, is to run elections," said Broerman, beaming on election-day eve.
Despite a consistent line of cars dropping off their ballots on Monday, Broerman says voter turnout this year is "considerably behind" in El Paso County this year compared to the 2018 midterm election.
""The number of ballots returned so far is about 150,000 and typically we see that number back last Wednesday, so we're somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 ballots behind," said Broerman.
The 2022 midterm ballot is the longest in El Paso County history, part of what Broerman believes could be causing later turnout.
"There might be some people who want to vote closer to election day to get that last little information about a candidate or issue, so I can understand that portion of it. I think it's just the length of the ballot," said Broerman.
Broerman hopes voters who still need to will drop their ballots early on Tuesday morning. He says the results will take longer to get back the later that people get to the polls.
For Scott Deeds, an El Paso County voter, the length of the ballot is no deterrent.
"I lost my son in Iraq... Freedom is not free. There is always a cost and so this is very simply my way of carrying on his legacy," said Deeds.
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