Electoral reform in Colorado

Electoral reform in Colorado refers to efforts to change the voting laws in the Centennial State.

National Popular Vote

In 2006, the Colorado Senate passed a bill to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact but it failed in the Colorado House of Representatives.

On 17 March 2009, the Colorado House of Representatives passed legislation to allocate Colorado's electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote.[1] The legislation faced criticism from Republican lawmakers[2] and never passed the state Senate.

During the 2019 Regular Session of the Colorado General Assembly, the General Assembly and Governor Jared Polis signed passed the National Popular Vote Act.[3] This legislation added Colorado to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Following Governor Polis's enactment of the legislation, opponents gathered nearly 229,000 signatures to place the issue on the 2020 ballot.[4]

Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)

In response to the 2020 Democratic Primary, Democratic leaders in the Colorado General Assembly and the Colorado Secretary of State Griswold expressed interest in considering IRV at the state level.[5] Secretary Griswold has also established a committee to consider new election methods.[5] Any statewide changes to the elections process would have to be approved by the legislature or by voter approval.[5] In response to the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, lawmakers began discussions about IRV, with some academics expressing concerns about "wasted votes" for candidates who terminated their candidacy after voters began casting their ballots through early voting and mail-in voting.[6] Colorado State Senator Julie Gonzales expressed interest in establishing IRV in Colorado through the General Assembly.[6]

In February 2020, a potential ballot initiative was filed with the state of Colorado to establish ranked choice voting for U.S. House of Representatives races.[7]

In 2008, Telluride began using IRV but ceased the process after their November 2019 mayoral election due to concerns over the time-intensive hand-counting method for tallying IRV results.[8]

In 2007, the Aspen City Council voted 5-0 to place a measure on the ballot to implement IRV in elections.[9] Aspen voters changed their mind in 2010 and repealed the measure by a large margin.[10]

Carbondale and Basalt both use IRV for mayoral races with three or more candidates.[11]

Amendments and Ballot Initiatives

Amendment 36 (2004)

2004's Amendment 36, if enacted, would have theoretically allowed a third party candidate to receive an electoral vote if they received 12% of the popular vote in Colorado. Opponents harbored concerns that the amendment, if adopted, could affect the outcome of the 2004 U.S. Presidential election. Regardless, the outcome of the election would not have been affected by the adoption of the amendment since none of the third party candidates achieved even 1% of the popular vote. The amendment failed by a large margin.[12]

Initiative 104 (2020)

Initiative 104, which may be considered during Colorado's 2020 election, would establish approval voting for state elections in Colorado. Specifically, Initiative 104 would permit electors "to select as many choices as there are candidates" on a state ballot.[13] This would modify existing state law, which only allows voters to select a single candidate.[13] The initiative is currently "Approved for circulation" by the Secretary of State's office;[14] it has not yet met the signature requirements to be on the 2020 ballot.[15]

The ballot title for the initiative is:

A change to the Colorado Revised Statutes adopting approval voting, a voting method in which electors may cast votes for multiple candidates in each race in all state and local elections and the winner in each race is the candidate or, in the case of a multiple-seat race, candidates, receiving the highest number of votes cast.

— Ballot Title Setting Board (2 January 2020)[16]

If passed by Colorado voters, Initiative 104 would go into effect on 1 January 2022.[13]

Redistricting

Amendments Y and Z

On 6 November 2018, Colorado voters approved two ballot initiatives to establish independent commissions for redrawing districts.[17] Amendment Y established an independent commission to draw U.S. Congressional Districts.[18] Amendment Z established an independent commission to draw state legislative boundaries.[19] Both amendments prioritize competitiveness when redistricting[17] and both passed with 71 percent of the vote.[20]

The commissions would be made up of the following members:

• 4 members of the state's largest political party
• 4 members of the state's second largest political party
• 4 members whom are not members of any political party

8 of 12 members (two of whom must not be affiliated with a political party) are required to approve a redistricting map.[18][19] A panel of retired judges and a lottery system will be used to choose members of the commission, which must have representation from every congressional district in the state.[20] The commissions will first draw districts after the 2020 Census.[17]

Colorado Reapportionment Commission

Prior the Amendments X and Y, Colorado's Reapportionment Commission drew legislative districts in the state. The Commission had 11 members with no explicit partisan makeup. The commission could have had up to 11 members of one political party.[21]

2011 Reapportionment Commission Members[22][23]

Member	Party	Appointed By	Role
Mario Carrera	Independent	Chief Justice Michael Bender	Chair
Wellington Webb	Democrat	Gov. John Hickenlooper	Vice Chair
Dolores Atencio	Democrat	Chief Justice Michael Bender
Mario Nicolais	Republican	Senate Minority Leader Mike Kopp
Rep. Gayle Berry	Republican	Gov. John Hickenlooper
Arnold Salazar	Democrat	Gov. John Hickenlooper
Sen. Morgan Carroll	Democrat	Senate President Brandon Shaffer
Steve Tool	Republican	Chief Justice Michael Bender
Robert Loevy	Republican	Chief Justice Michael Bender
Rep. Rob Witwer	Republican	House Speaker Frank McNulty
Rep. Matt Jones	Democrat	House Minority Leader Sal Pace

See also

• Colorado
• Electoral reform in the United States

References

1. Kerr, Andy; Romer, Chris. "Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote" (PDF). Colorado General Assembly. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
2. Schroyer, John (March 9, 2009). "Colorado revives attempts to shift electoral college". The Colorado Springs Gazette. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
3. Foote, Mike; Sirota, Emily; Arndt, Jeni James. "National Popular Vote". Colorado General Assembly. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
4. Goodland, Marianne (August 29, 2019). "Drive to repeal national popular vote compact makes Colorado's 2020 ballot". Colorado Politics. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
5. Kenney, Andrew (March 2, 2020). "Could Ranked Choice Have Avoided Colorado's Primary Drop-Out Drama?". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
6. Swanson, Conrad (March 7, 2020). "Ranked-choice voting gains favor in Colorado after primary candidates dropped out late". The Denver Post. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
7. "Instant Runoff Voting for Elections of United States Representatives" (PDF). Colorado General Assembly. Legislative Council Staff. February 4, 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
8. Cheavens, Suzanne (Nov 5, 2019). "Telluride has new mayor as DeLanie Young wins". Telluride Daily Planet. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
9. Voters to decide on runoffs, mayoral term, Carolyn Sackariason, Aspen Times, July 18, 2007.
10. Wackerle, Curtis (Nov 3, 2010). "City voters repeal IRV". Aspen Daily News. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
11. Sandra, Fish (February 7, 2020). "Colorado is a key state in the debate about the best way to pick candidates in elections". The Colorado Sun. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
12. Colorado rejects proposal to split electoral votes, USA Today, November 2, 2004.
13. "Initiative 2019-2020 #104: Approval Voting" (PDF). Legislative Council Staff. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
14. Colorado Secretary of State. "2019-2020 Initiative Filings, Agendas & Results". Retrieved 7 March 2020.
15. Ballotpedia. "Laws governing the initiative process in Colorado". Retrieved 7 March 2020.
16. Colorado Secretary of State. "Ballot Title Setting Board Results for Proposed Initiative #104". Retrieved 7 March 2020.
17. Botkin, Ben (November 6, 2018). "Colorado Amendments Y and Z: Measures pass handily". The Denver Post. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
18. Fenberg, Stephen; Duran, Crisanta; Neville, Patrick. "Congressional Redistricting". Colorado General Assembly. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
19. Fenberg, Stephen; Duran, Crisanta; Neville, Patrick. "Legislative Redistricting". Colorado General Assembly. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
20. Powell, Rebecca; Coltrain, Nick (November 6, 2018). "Colorado election: Amendments Y and Z pass, changing the way Colorado does redistricting". The Coloradoan. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
21. Colorado Public Radio Staff (November 7, 2018). "Colorado Amendments Y & Z, Independent Panels For Redistricting, Have Passed". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
22. "Legislative lines". The Pueblo Chieftain. May 22, 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
23. "Colorado Reapportionment Commission". Colorado General Assembly. Retrieved 5 March 2020.

External links

• FairVote Colorado.