The number of active voters in Colorado has grown by just under 50,000 between January and July of this year, but more voters are opting to be unaffiliated than register as a Republican or Democrat.

A recent analysis from the New York Times found that Democratic voter registration declined in every state between 2020 and 2024, while in many of those states Republican registrations grew. In Colorado — where a voter does not need to be registered with a party to vote in primary elections — both parties have seen further reductions since the start of 2025.

Both parties saw reductions of total membership in the state of less than 1 percent, but the number of Democratic party voters declined slightly more than Republican voters. Unaffiliated voter registration across Colorado grew by 3.1 percent, while Democratic registration dropped by 0.9 percent and Republican registration dropped by 0.77 percent.

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The vast majority of voters who are registering for the first time or updating their registration do so through automatic voter registration at the Division of Motor Vehicles, according to Aly Belknap, executive director of Common Cause Colorado, a pro-democracy organization with branches in about two dozen states. People who register through the DMV are automatically registered unaffiliated, but Belknap said voters are able to update that to join a party.

Belknap said voters opting to be unaffiliated aligns with “a trend we’ve seen steadily over the last decade” after Colorado opened up its primaries. Over the last three presidential election cycles, the national approval ratings of the Democratic and Republican parties have reached “historic lows,” she said.

“I think that’s really a driving force for many Coloradans, as well as many Americans because this is a trend that we’re now seeing nationally, even in states with closed primaries,” Belknap said. “This is I think a driving reason why folks are moving away and deciding to register unaffiliated and forge a path on leading with the issues that matter mostly to them and choosing the candidates accordingly.”

Voters’ trust in government is also at a historic low, Belknap said, which affects peoples’ willingness to engage with democracy and elections.

Unaffiliated voter registrations have been steadily on the rise since November and peaked at 2,029,337 in July, growing by more than 60,000 voters since the start of the year.

Immediately after the November election, Republicans saw a slight uptick in registrations in Colorado between the end of November and December, but the number of voters affiliated with the party have slowly declined each month since. The number of voters registered as Republican hit a high of 943,564 in December and have dropped to 936,002 by the end of July.

The Colorado Republican Party did not respond to a Newsline request for comment.

Consistent across congressional districts

The Democratic Party’s high since the November election was at the end of November, when 1,050,789 Colorado voters were registered with the party. Democratic registrations dropped to 1,036,115 in July after gradually declining each month since.

Voters across the country “are feeling disillusioned and apathetic,” according to Andrew Nicla, Colorado Democratic Party communications director, and “the toxic national discourse has left many questioning whether either party is truly fighting for them.”

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“These voter registration numbers are a snapshot, not a sealed fate. Colorado Democrats didn’t blow a $1.2 billion hole in our state budget or cut health care and food assistance for working families,” Nicla said, referencing the federal tax and spending bill’s effect on Colorado’s budget. “There is a clear contrast between our vision, and the damage done by Colorado Republicans in Congress and in our state.”

Party affiliations are consistent across Colorado’s eight congressional districts, too.

In Colorado’s battleground 8th Congressional District, where Republican U.S. Representative Gabe Evans defeated former Democratic U.S. Representative Yadira Caraveo by less than a full percentage point, the number of Democratic-affiliated voters has decreased more than the number of Republican-affiliated voters has: Between January and July, the district has seen a 0.06 percent reduction in registered Republican voters compared to a 0.33 percent reduction in registered Democratic voters.

A priority over the next 10-15 years will be to implement automatic voter registration through Medicaid, Belknap said, meaning people seeking Medicaid in Colorado would “have the same benefit as folks who are getting a driver’s license.” The Colorado Legislature approved a bill that would have implemented that process in 2019, but the federal government has not made the changes needed to allow it.

While political parties and candidates may not be engaging with voters as much during an off year, Belknap said nonpartisan voter registration organizations are still out within the community registering voters, but not pushing for any particular party. She would “love to see the voter registration numbers continue to increase” going into 2026 when there are more local and national elections on the ballot, both in the spring and fall, she said.