With ballots streaming in ahead of the August 10 primary and voters growing weary of negative campaigning, a scheduled U.S. Senate debate in Pueblo was cancelled less than a week before the primary deadline:
Action 22, a civic group that advocates for 22 southern Colorado counties, planned to play host to Democrat Andrew Romanoff and Republican Senate rivals Ken Buck and Jane Norton on Wednesday.
But the group canceled the debate Tuesday morning. Action 22 president Cathy Garcia blamed early voting and negative campaigning for the lack of interest. She said that many in her group said they’d already voted in the mostly mail-in election that wraps up Aug. 10. Garcia also said that members said they were tired of hearing the candidates attack each other.
According to Dena Abeyta, Election Supervisor for Pueblo County, 19.56% of ballots had been returned through early Tuesday afternoon.
Pueblo’s industrial past–particularly steel production–and strong union presence helped push the county towards President Barack Obama in 2008, 57-42%. The county gave U.S. Senator Mark Udall (D) an even bigger margin, 58-37%, in the same election.
Similarly, Denver County has seen just fewer than 20% of ballots returned.