There’s a difference between election night results you see on the news, and the certified election results, which take weeks to finalize after each election.
On election night you can see results on our website. You might also see them on the website of the Colorado Secretary of State. None of these results are certified, final results. Sometimes the numbers can vary widely throughout the night as new precincts are counted and votes submitted on Election Day are prepared and counted.
The Secretary of State’s Office maintains a website with results from across counties and the state. These are not official results, but allows citizens to see results across county and other jurisdictional boundaries. We upload election results throughout the night to this website. It is not an official record of results nor is it connected to the secure county voting systems. It is maintained so voters don’t need to check 64 county websites to find out who is winning a statewide race on Election Night.
We spend weeks after the election ensuring that every vote cast was counted and counted accurately. State law ensures voters can correct issues with their ballots for eight days following each election. We also wait eight days to ensure military members and oversea voters, who voted through mail, have their votes counted. All of these processes continue to change vote totals for days after each Election Night. Secure totals are always, and only, held at the county level.