TWO INITIATIVES IN COLO. ADDRESS ELECTION ISSUES

Colorado voters will decide in November whether to change how political parties in the state select their nominees.

The Colorado secretary of state’s office on Wednesday said two questions around a primary election system qualified for the ballot by having at least 98,942 valid signatures from registered voters, or 5 percent of the total votes in the last election for secretary of state.

Colorado currently uses a caucus system, run by the parties, to select nominees for the general election.

Initiative 140 creates a presidential primary starting in 2020. The question specifies that the election would be held before the end of March, giving Colorado an earlier vote than most states and more of a say in thinning the field of presidential candidates.

Proponents say that would attract more attention to Colorado from candidates and the media.

Initiative 98 allows unaffiliated voters to participate in primary elections without having to affiliate with a party.

Unaffiliated voters, the state’s largest bloc, would be allowed to choose which party’s primary they wish to participate in.

Initiative 140 still allows parties to call off their primaries and select their nominees at their state conventions. Like a caucus, parties pay for their conventions, whereas taxpayers fund primaries.