More than half of Grand County’s registered voters turned out for the 2021 election — an impressive feat considering only 32.2% of voters across Colorado returned a ballot this election.

With no federal elections, odd-numbered years tend to see the lowest number of returned ballots. Even so, more than 6,000 out of 11,995 active voters in Grand County still got their ballots in on time.

The 50.2% turnout this year was better than the county’s last odd-year election in 2019 when 48.8% of voters returned a ballot.

Presidential election years see the highest voter turnout followed by midterm elections. In 2018, just over two-thirds of registered voters returned a ballot in Grand.

Last year, Grand voters turned out in their highest numbers ever with 87.7% of registered voters casting a ballot. The record turnout in 2020 surpassed 2016’s rate of 75%.

On the 2021 ballot, the single issue with the most overall votes in Grand was a statewide ballot measure, Proposition 119, which saw 5,323 Grand County votes.

The measure proposed an additional 5% tax on retail marijuana to fund an after school program, and 51% of Grand voters opposed it. At the same time, 54% of voters statewide also opposed the measure.

The local measure with the most votes at 5,311 was Grand County Ballot Issue 1A, asking for a 1.75 mill levy increase for Grand Emergency Medical Services. While local voters rejected higher taxes on marijuana, they supported the measure for EMS.