Colorado Newsline reports that three Republican candidates in Colorado have filed a last-minute lawsuit challenging the state’s semi-open primary system, arguing that allowing unaffiliated voters to participate in the GOP primary violates constitutional rights.
The lawsuit was filed by Ron Hanks, a former state representative running in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, Rep. Scott Bottoms, who is running for governor, and David Wilson, who is running for attorney general. They want a court to block unaffiliated voters from participating in the June 2026 Republican primary.
The case comes right after a federal judge rejected a similar effort by the Colorado Republican Party. This one argues candidate-specific harm, including Hanks’ claim that he would have won the 2022 U.S. Senate primary against Joe O’Dea if only registered Republicans had voted. That is certainly one way to revisit history. Another is to count the votes and stop yelling at the scoreboard.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Three Republican candidates are suing to stop unaffiliated voters from voting in Colorado’s GOP primary, claiming the current system violates the 1st and 14th Amendments, along with the Colorado Constitution.
- The law they are challenging came from Proposition 108, passed by voters in 2016, which lets unaffiliated voters choose either major party’s primary ballot. Like it or not, that has been the law for nearly a decade. The horse has left the barn, started a podcast, and registered unaffiliated.
- The plaintiffs say unaffiliated voters dilute the votes of actual Republican Party members. That is a serious associational-rights argument, and it is not crazy on principle. Parties should be allowed to be parties. But timing matters, and filing this right before ballots go out is not exactly a masterclass in strategic patience.
- Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold says the ballot is certified and unaffiliated voters should be able to vote under state law. Gov. Jared Polis’ office says it is concerning that candidates are trying to exclude voters. Democrats suddenly defending broad voter access when it helps divide Republicans is not shocking. Water remains wet.
- A hearing is scheduled for May 14, with county clerks able to start giving mail ballots to eligible voters who request them on May 16. So yes, this thing is being litigated at the political equivalent of pulling into the airport as your plane is backing away from the gate.
My Bottom Line
I have written about this plenty, so here is the same point again with a fresh coat of paint: politics is a game of addition, not subtraction. Ronald Reagan understood this. Big tents. Broad coalitions. Win people over. Do not build a velvet rope outside your own primary and then act surprised when the room is empty.
Ten years ago, I fought against Proposition 108. I thought it was a bad idea then, and I still think parties have a real right to decide how parties pick their nominees. That is not some fringe concept. It is basic freedom of association. But the voters of Colorado disagreed, and the law changed. You can dislike that. You can challenge it. You can argue the constitutional point. Fine. But you also have to live in the political world that exists, not the one you wish had won the last ballot measure.
And here is the hard truth: unaffiliated voters are now the largest voting bloc in Colorado, according to the framing in this debate, over half of registered voters. So explain to me how thumbing your nose at them broadens your coalition. Explain how telling the biggest group of voters in the state to wait outside helps Republicans win statewide races. I will wait, but not forever. I have county roads to worry about.
The GOP can keep suing, grumbling, and blaming unaffiliated voters for choosing candidates the party base does not like. Or it can do the harder thing: persuade people. Build trust. Recruit better candidates. Stop treating every voter outside the clubhouse like a trespasser. If your message cannot survive contact with unaffiliated voters, the problem might not be the voters. It might be the message.
Source: Colorado Newsline
Share your thoughts...