Fort Collins election marked by landslides, nail-biters and historic results
Jacy Marmaduke, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Follow the ballot counting process in Fort Collins
Replay Video
The mascot of Fort Collins' 2021 election night was the refresh button.
Thanks to the political reality-shifting wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was another election that swapped lively watch parties for Zoom calls and traded intimate gatherings for the internet. After polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday, candidates, local politicos and journalists alike sat in front of their computers or phones and waited for results. And waited. And waited.
Historic turnout — more than 41,000 votes, the highest total ever recorded in a Fort Collins municipal election — meant a long night for city election workers. The City Clerk's Office switched to a new process in 2019 that involves all unofficial results being released at once. Some election-watchers had hoped for results around 10:30 p.m., given the 10:11 p.m. release of results in 2019, but this election attracted about 25% more ballots than the last one.