GOP DOESN’T BAN UNAFFILIATED VOTES

A move to close the 2018 Republican primaries to unaffiliated voters failed Saturday after a majority of the party leaders voted against the proposal during a Central Committee Meeting.

Voters approved Proposition 108 in 2016, overhauling how major-party candidates are selected in the Colorado and allowing the state’s 1.4 million unaffiliated voters to cast ballots in either the Republican or Democratic primaries.

But a caveat allowed political parties to opt out by a 75 percent vote of its entire central committee.

Saturday, the GOP did not have enough members present to reach that percentage, making the move dead before the votes had been cast, Colorado Republican Party spokesman Daniel Cole said.

Regardless, those present voted and opt-out proponents only garnered 33 percent of the vote, Cole said. The remaining 67 percent voted to keep the primaries open.

Had the proposal passed, the Republican party would have left statewide office nominations to party insiders. Instead, the Republican candidate will receive the party’s nomination by winning the most votes in the June 26 primary.

The move to close the primaries could technically come up again before June 26 but Cole said that won’t happen. A motion to sue to overturn Proposition 8 also went down by the same margin, Cole said.

Snow in high country, cool in metro area. Snow began falling in Colorado’s mountains Saturday afternoon, with 1 to 5 inches expected overnight in the north central mountains.

Copper Mountain and Mount Evans were among the peaks where snowfall began mid-afternoon, according to The National Weather Service in Boulder. In Denver, light rain showers were expected Saturday night, with accumulation of about 1/4 of an inch.

The road to Mount Evans was closed for the season on Saturday, due to the snow. But people can still drive partway up and walk up the mountain, the Colorado Department of Transportation said.

The weather service said it would remain rainy and cool for much of the weekend in the Denver metro area, which encouraged meteorologist Nazette Rydal to say, “Yep, it’s fall.”

The low on Saturday in the metro area was around 46 degrees, with a 70 percent chance of rain in the evening.

Sunday should have less rain and a high near 51 degrees, she said. The low should be around 43 degrees.

The mountains may see up to 4 or 5 inches of snow above 10,000 and 10,500 feet on Saturday and Sunday.