Week 17: More Participatory Primary Elections

Dear Colorado Voter,

On Monday county clerks began sending out ballots for the 2026 primary election. The Secretary of State sent out a clear press release about the 4 different ballots and who gets to vote which ballot.

UOCAVA voters, like my daughter, were sent their ballots in May! UOCAVA stands for Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.

I hope everyone eligible to vote in the primary election does so, but since Colorado is neither an open primary state nor an all-candidate primary state, some voters are not eligible to vote.

If Colorado were an open primary state like Minnesota (which usually has the highest voter turnout of any state), then every single voter could choose which of the 4 ballots to vote. A Republican could choose to vote in the Democratic primary, for instance. A Forward Party member (aka Forwardist) could vote any of the 4 ballots instead of not being able to vote at all.

If Colorado had an all-candidate primary like California and Alaska, then all the candidates would run against each other in the primary election; voters vote for one candidate in each contest. In California the top 2 candidates advance to the general election. In Alaska the top 4 candidates advance to the general election, and then voters name their #1 choice and have the option of ranking their #2 and #3 choices. I believe that I would surely get enough votes in the primary election to advance to the general election. There are currently 7 candidates running for Sec of State, but that will go down to 5 candidates after the June 30th primary election.

I think some people who voted against Prop 131 – basically, Alaska's system – are now wishing that we had the Alaska system for all the statewide contests.

Tina Peters did not file to run for Sec of State in 2026, but her 2022 campaign committee continues to be active. It reported ~$200,000 on hand as of May 27th. If I'm reading page 11 of the Colorado Campaign and Political Finance Manual correctly, since Peters has not filed [a candidate affidavit] to run in the 2026 election, her campaign committee should have been terminated in 2023 or late 2022.

It's too late to change your party affiliation for the primary election, but Colorado has same-day voter registration so eligible people have through 7pm on June 30th to register to vote in the primary election.

With enthusiasm and purpose,

Celeste