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Final tallies for primary election results in Garfield County

A ballot box in the parking lot at the Rifle Police Department.
Kathy Pototsky

Final primary election tallies from the Garfield County Clerk’s Office on Wednesday reaffirm all wins for House District 57 and Congressional District 3.

There were 13,850 ballots cast out of 36,834 registered voters in Garfield County, for a voter turnout of 37.60%.

In Colorado, unaffiliated voters receive both a Democratic and Republican ballot. They then have the opportunity to fill out one but not both, so their ballots are counted as an active voter within that party. Primary elections were made nonpartisan in Colorado in 2016, Garfield County Clerk Jean Alberico said. 



“Unaffiliated voters are sent ballots for both major parties. The voter must choose one ballot, vote one ballot, and only return one voted ballot,” Alberico said in a Thursday email. “If the unaffiliated voter returned both ballots and both were voted then neither ballot was counted.”

Alberico said 366 votes weren’t counted because those voters sent in both Republican and Democratic ballots. Previous primary elections typically saw between 250-260 votes not counted due to this same issue, Alberico said.



Total ballots cast in the 2020 primary election for Garfield County was 15,060 out of 33,682 active voters, yielding a 44.71% voter turnout.

Total ballots cast in the 2018 primary election for Garfield County was 10,271 out of 31,211 active voters, yielding a 32.91% voter turnout. 

Winning the 2022 House District 57 Democratic primary was Elizabeth Velasco, garnering 2,988 votes over challenger Cole Buerger’s 1,613. Velasco received 64.94% of the vote, while Buerger ended with 35.06%.

Total ballots cast for the HD57 Democratic primary was 4,764 out of 15,358 registered Democratic voters in Garfield County, for a voter turnout of 31.02%.

Velasco faces incumbent Rep. Perry Will, R-New Castle, in the Nov. 8 General Election, who ran unopposed in the GOP primary.

Winning the Congressional District 3 Democratic primary districtwide and locally was Adam Frisch, garnering 2,328 votes in Garfield County. Primary challenger Alex Walker nabbed 593 votes, while Soledad Sandoval Tafoya ended up with 1,654.

Districtwide, Frisch won with 24,961 votes over Walker’s 9,084 and Sandoval’s 23,891.

Frisch faces incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., of Silt in the Nov. 8 General Election.

Winning the CD3 Republican primary both locally and districtwide was Boebert, garnering 5,222 votes over challenger Don Coram’s 3,810. Boebert’s tally total accounted for 57.82% of the vote, while Coram was 42.18%.

Districtwide, Boebert won with 83,217 votes over Coram’s 43,641.


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