Colorado ballot measure Proposition 131 may cost millions | Elections

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Proposition 131, a Colorado ballot measure which seeks to radically transform the way voters cast their ballots, looks to carry a hefty price tag if approved by voters on Tuesday.

According to the Colorado Blue Book, state spending will increase by $100,000 in the first year of implementation, and by $6 million annually in subsequent years. Counties will likely face an additional $5 million in cost for primary elections, and $4 million for general elections.

County clerks statewide have criticized Proposition 131, which would implement open primaries and ranked choice voting for statewide races in Colorado. Clerks say the measure would cost the state and county too much, requiring technology that is not ready for implementation, and causing unnecessary confusion for voters.

If Tuesday brings citizen approval, Larimer County Clerk Tina Harris said implementing a brand-new voting system will require “a major overhaul to the elections. We can’t just flip a switch and do it. It’s going to require a complete change. Depending on the race, it could cost the county up to 4 or 5 million dollars.”

Several cities in Colorado have already been using some form of ranked choice voting in municipal elections. Boulder, Fort Collins, and Aspen have passed some form of ranked choice voting in the last 20 years.

According to FairVote, a pro-RCV nonprofit, Boulder passed ranked choice voting in 2020 with 78% support.

Aly Belknap, the executive director of Common Cause Colorado, said switching the voting system in Boulder cost about $77,000 in direct costs, but the actual costs were more for indirect expenditures.

In 2021, Fort Collins City Councilmember Melanie Potyondy lost her first race to a conservative candidate when the progressive vote was split by multiple candidates. This prompted several local groups, including the Bohemian Foundation and the League of Women Voters, to push for a municipal ranked choice voting to prevent this from happening again.

The city voted to approve the amendment in 2022. The new system will be implemented in the 2025 elections.

"Although I am a big fan of RCV and am anxious to see how the rollout goes with our upcoming city elections, I am refraining from weighing in on the current ballot initiative for the state," says Potyondy.

The city of Aspen implemented the ranked voting system by amending the city charter in 2007, but voters repealed the measure in 2010.

Election experts stress that implementing a statewide ranked choice voting system will look different than it does at the municipal level.

“The folks who run our elections at the local level, they're really concerned and raising a lot of alarm bells that implementation for this measure just does not give up the on-ramp that they need, or that our state needs at the state level for election administration,” said Belknap.

Currently, Boulder County Clerk Molly Fitzpatrick said the technology does not exist to do ranked choice voting on a statewide level.

To implement it statewide, two systems need to be updated: the election night results website, and the risk limiting audit software. Currently, the state's website cannot display ranked choice voting results, and the audit software, which helps to analyze ballots, is not compatible.

The county clerks “were not consulted” in the design of Proposition 131, said Fitzpatrick, who is also the president of the Colorado County Clerks Association.

Fitzpatrick said voter education is also a concern if the proposition is passed Tuesday night.

“There's over a dozen new words that are going to be introduced into the public square about, you know, how the tabulation and the rankings work through rounds,” Fitzpatrick said. “We'll need to make sure that the state's prepared to train everybody… because every procedure will need to be updated, every training, communication guide, that sort of thing.”

At the state level, Proposition 131 has amassed widespread financial support from various donors. Kent Thiry, the ex-CEO of the kidney dialysis company DaVita, is the largest individual contributor at $2.4 million.

Unite America, a venture fund co-chaired by Thiry, has given $5.6 million.

In total, groups in favor of Proposition 131 have raised around $14.65 million as of Oct. 31.

Supporters and opponents of Proposition 131 come from both sides of the aisle.

Democratic U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, Gov. Jared Polis and FairVote Colorado have endorsed the proposition.

Both the Republican and Democratic parties of Colorado oppose ranked choice voting. Democratic U.S Sen. Michael Bennett and Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert also oppose Proposition 131.

According to a poll conducted by Keating Research, as of Sept. 1, 56% of voters support the proposition, 21% oppose it, and 23% are undecided.

Lorelei Smillie is a student at Colorado College.

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Colorado ballot measure Proposition 131 may cost millions | Elections

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