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Electoral reform in Colorado refers to efforts to change the voting laws in the Centennial State.
| Elections in Colorado |
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Electoral reform in Colorado refers to efforts to change the voting laws in the Centennial State.
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.[ citation needed ]
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]
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 ranked-choice voting (RCV) 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 RCV (specifically the instant-runoff voting method), 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 RCV 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 RCV but ceased the process after their November 2019 mayoral election due to concerns over the time-intensive hand-counting method for tallying RCV results. [8]
In 2007, the Aspen City Council voted 5-0 to place a measure on the ballot to implement RCV in elections. [9] Aspen voters changed their mind in 2010 and repealed the measure by a large margin. [10]
Carbondale and Basalt both use RCV for mayoral races with three or more candidates. [11]
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 [ citation needed ]. 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.[ citation needed ] The amendment failed by a large margin. [12]
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]
On 6 November 2018, Colorado voters approved two ballot initiatives to establish independent commissions for redrawing districts. [17] Amendment Y established the Colorado Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission to draw U.S. Congressional Districts. [18] Amendment Z established the Colorado Independent Legislative Redistricting Commission to draw state legislative boundaries. [19] The umbrella organization overseeing the two commissions is called the Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions. [20] Both amendments prioritize competitiveness when redistricting [17] and both passed with 71 percent of the vote. [21]
The commissions are made up of the following members:
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 are used to choose members of the commission, which must have representation from every congressional district in the state. [21] The commissions drew districts for the first time after the 2020 Census. [17]
Prior to the passage of 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. [22]
FairVote, formerly the Center for Voting and Democracy, is a 501(c)(3) organization that advocates electoral reform in the United States.
Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a voting method used in single-seat elections with more than two candidates. Instead of voting only for a single candidate, voters in IRV elections can rank the candidates in order of preference. Ballots are initially counted for each elector's top choice, losing candidates are eliminated, and ballots for losing candidates are redistributed until one candidate is the top remaining choice of a majority of the voters. When the field is reduced to two, it has become an "instant runoff" that allows a comparison of the top two candidates head-to-head.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among a group of U.S. states and the District of Columbia to award all their electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the overall popular vote in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The compact is designed to ensure that the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide is elected president, and it would come into effect only when it would guarantee that outcome. As of May 2022, it has been adopted by fifteen states and the District of Columbia. These states have 195 electoral votes, which is 36% of the Electoral College and 72% of the 270 votes needed to give the compact legal force.
Elections in California are held to fill various local, state and federal seats. In California, regular elections are held every even year ; however, some seats have terms of office that are longer than two years, so not every seat is on the ballot in every election. Special elections may be held to fill vacancies at other points in time. Recall elections can also be held. Additionally, statewide initiatives, legislative referrals and referenda may be on the ballot.
Electoral reform in Virginia refers to efforts to change the electoral system in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia has undergone much electoral change since its settling in 1607, many of which were required by federal legislation. However, it remains a relatively conservative state in this respect compared to California and others which have experimented with various alternative systems.
Electoral reform in the United States refers to efforts to change American elections and the electoral system used in the United States.
Electoral reform in California refers to efforts to change election and voting laws in the U.S. state of California.
Ranked-choice voting (RCV) is a ranked voting system being used in some states and cities in the United States in which voters may prioritize (rank) their choice of candidates among many, and a procedure exists to count lower ranked candidates if and after higher ranked candidates have been eliminated, usually in a succession of counting rounds. In practice, there are several ways this can be implemented and variations exist; instant-runoff voting (IRV) and single transferable vote (STV) are the general types of ranked-choice voting systems used in the United States.
The California state elections, November 2010 were held on November 2, 2010.
The California state elections was held on Election Day, November 6, 2012. On the ballot were eleven propositions, various parties' nominees for the United States presidency, the Class I Senator to the United States Senate, all of California's seats to the House of Representatives, all of the seats of the State Assembly, and all odd-numbered seats of the State Senate.
The 2020 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party’s nominee former vice president Joe Biden defeated incumbent Republican president Donald Trump in the presidential election. Despite losing seats in the House of Representatives, Democrats retained control of the House and gained control of the Senate. As a result, the Democrats successfully obtained a government trifecta, the first time since the elections in 2008 that the party gained unified control of Congress and the presidency.
Maine Question 1 was a people's veto referendum that appeared on the June 12, 2018 statewide ballot. It sought to reject a law passed by the Maine Legislature that suspended the implementation of ranked choice voting, authorized by Maine voters in a previous referendum, for use in Maine elections until and if an amendment to the Maine Constitution is passed to expressly permit it; failing that, the law would be automatically repealed in 2021. It qualified because supporters of the original referendum collected the necessary number of signatures from registered Maine voters. This vote coincided with primary elections in which party nominees for governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and the Maine Legislature were chosen through RCV to run in general elections on November 6.
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The California state elections in 2020 were held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Unlike previous election cycles, the primary elections were held on Super Tuesday, March 3, 2020.
A general election will be held in the U.S. state of Illinois on November 8, 2022. The elections for United States Senate and United States House of Representatives, Governor, statewide constitutional officers, Illinois Senate, and Illinois House will be held on this date.
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Massachusetts Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative, also known as Question 2, was an initiative at the 2020 Massachusetts general election that would have changed primaries and elections in Massachusetts from plurality voting to ranked-choice voting (RCV) for all Massachusetts statewide offices, state legislative offices, federal congressional offices, and certain other offices beginning in 2022. RCV would not be extended to elections for president, county commissioner, or regional district school committee member. The initiative failed, with 54.8% of voters voting 'No' and 45.2% 'Yes'.
Florida state elections in 2020 was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Aside from its presidential primaries held on March 17, its primary elections were held on August 18, 2020.
Virginia state elections in 2020 was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. With the exception of its Democratic Party presidential primary election held on March 3, 2020, its primary elections were held on June 23 of that year.
