Colorado’s 10 presidential electors voted for Kamala Harris • Colorado Newsline
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Colorado’s 10 presidential electors voted for Kamala Harris • Colorado Newsline

Posted on by Amelia Pressman

Colorado’s 10 presidential electors met at the state Capitol on Tuesday to cast their votes for 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who won 54.2% of Colorado’s vote.

Republican President-elect Donald Trump received 43.2% of the vote. This was the first presidential election in which Colorado had 10 electoral votes after the state gained an eighth congressional seat following the 2020 census.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Secretary of State Jena Griswold, both Democrats, oversaw the electors’ meeting, and Colorado Chief Justice Brian Boatright administered the oath of office for the 10 electors from across the state.

“This is part of our constitutional process that you are successfully carrying out here today to ensure that Colorado’s vote is part of the process that determines the next president of the United States,” Polis told voters.

Colorado’s presidential electors included Polly Baca of Denver, Rep. Junie Joseph of Boulder, Cindy Orr of Grand Junction, Jarrod Munger of Fort Morgan, John Mikos of Monument, Kathryn Wallace of Arvada, Gil Reyes of Denver, Anita Lynch of Denver and Katherine Khadija Haynes of Denver.

Colorado Supreme Court Justice Brian Boatright, Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold during a meeting of Colorado’s 10 presidential electors at the Colorado Capitol on December 17, 2024. (Lindsey Toomer/Colorado Newsline)

Griswold said Colorado ranked sixth nationally in voter turnout in 2024, with 79.5% of Colorado’s registered voters voting. She said this election was the first time Colorado had more than 4 million active voters and more than 3.2 million voted.

“The votes cast today are the final votes cast in this year’s election cycle,” Griswold said. “I’m proud that so many Coloradans made their voices heard in this important election.”

Colorado had the second highest voter turnout in the 2020 presidential election, with 76.4% of the eligible population voting.

In 2020, Colorado voters approved the state’s membership in the State of Colorado National intergovernmental plebiscite treatya coalition of states that have passed laws guaranteeing their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes from individual Americans, rather than the popular vote in a particular state.

The agreement will only come into force once enough states have signed to have 270 electoral votes, which is equivalent to a majority of the Electoral College. As of April, the National Popular Vote Compact had been adopted by 18 states and the District of Columbia, representing 209 electoral votes.

Polis said at the meeting that he supports moving to a direct popular vote for president, noting that a group of Democrats in the U.S. Senate is on board introduced a constitutional amendment Monday to abolish the Electoral College.

Colorado presidential elector Jarrod Munger of Fort Morgan prepares certificates of votes cast to be mailed to various government agencies at the Colorado Capitol on Dec. 17, 2024. (Lindsey Toomer/Colorado Newsline)

The electors took their oath, filled out two ballots – one for president and one for vice president – and each signed six certificates of votes cast, the official record of the vote. Griswold also signed each of the six certificates, making the results official.

The vote certificates were paired with the six certification certificates that Polis and Griswold signed after the general election results were certified. One pair is sent to the U.S. Senate, two pairs are sent to the Archivist of the United States, one pair is sent to the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, and the final two pairs are held by the Secretary of State’s Office.

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