unaffiliated voters

The request piggybacks off a ruling late last month that the requirement in Colorado law that 75% of the party’s central committee must support opting out of the primaries before it can happen “constitutes a severe burden on the major parties’ right to association and is therefore unconstitutional”

Democratic and Republican candidates collecting signatures to make their party’s primary ballot can only collect signatures from voters in their party. With unaffiliated voters now making up half of the statewide electorate, partisans are harder to find.

The impact five unaffiliated candidates could have in the Colorado legislature could be minimal, however.