Governor Jared Polis has endorsed Proposition 131, which would change many Colorado general elections to a ranked-choice voting system.
If approved by voters in November, the ballot initiative would be one of the biggest changes to Colorado’s electoral system since the state opened its primaries to unaffiliated voters. The proposed new system would eliminate partisan primaries and instead implement an all-candidate primary, of which four candidates would move on to a ranked-choice general election.
Backers of the proposal argue that the changes would encourage bipartisanship and reduce the influence of extreme ideologies on elections. In a post on Facebook, Polis explained his endorsement.
“While Colorado has among the best voter integrity and access protections, no system of voting is perfect, and I think instant runoff voting is better than our current system because it gives voters more choices,” he wrote. “I’m hopeful that if it passes it will encourage participation and improve our democracy.”
The proposal was funded by Kent Thiry, a multimillionaire who has been at the heart of attempting to change several major facets of the state’s electoral system.
Opponents of the measure include both liberals and conservatives. Some Democrats have argued that ranked-choice voting would disempower grassroots movements, while some Republicans have criticized the system as overly-complicated.
A poll commissioned by Colorado Voters First, which supported the proposition, found that a majority of voters say they will vote to pass the ranked-choice ballot proposal in the November election.
Ranked choice voting is already in place in some Colorado elections. Last November, voters in Boulder were able to utilize the ranked-choice system in the mayoral race. Some small mountain towns, like Carbondale and Basalt, adopted the system years ago, but many never had enough candidates running to use it.
