What to expect in Colorado on Election Day

What Colorado voters will decide

Colorado voters will choose leaders for federal, state and local offices on Tuesday. That means Election Day will cover several levels of government rather than one contest or one type of office.

Federal offices involve representation in the national government. State offices concern leadership and representation within Colorado, while local offices cover leadership closer to voters’ communities. Each contest has its own vote tally, and the results together will show voters’ choices across those levels of government.

The central event Tuesday is the counting of votes in those contests. The totals will develop as ballots are tallied, creating the election data used to assess each race.

What the AP Decision Team will monitor

The AP Decision Team will follow key facts and data points as the tally develops. Its assessments will depend on the vote information reported during the count, with each contest evaluated through its own results.

Readers can expect the election picture to take shape through incoming totals rather than through a single number covering every office. Federal, state and local contests are separate decisions, even though Colorado voters make those choices on the same Election Day.

The main process to watch is the progression of the tally: votes are counted, totals develop and the AP Decision Team reviews the resulting data. That process will continue to provide information about the choices Colorado voters made in each contest.