Proposition 131 – Establishing All-Candidate Primary and Ranked Choice Voting General Elections
❌ VOTE NO
This initiative would create an all-candidate primary election for certain state and federal offices, where the top four candidates advance to the general election. It would allow voters to rank those candidates in the general election with votes counted over multiple rounds to determine who wins the election.
CDP recommends voting NO because:
Kent Thiry, an extremely wealthy Colorado businessman who has mused about running for Governor, is the primary power and money behind the measure. Thiry dropped $1.1 million just days before the 2024 Colorado primary to influence the outcomes, and has a long history of using his personal wealth to influence our elections and state policies.
The system Thiry is proposing would likely make political extremism worse and increase the amount of dark money in Colorado’s elections. It would allow for well-funded special interest groups and wealthy individuals to have even more sway over our politics and which candidates move on to the General Election.
A University of Minnesota Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs 2023 study found that this system: does not tend to produce more diversity of elected officials; decreases voter participation due to confusion; and does not decrease negative campaigning or polarization in elections.
To make matters more complicated and dangerous, there is no statewide CO SOS approved risk-limiting audit to verify the outcome of these types of elections the initiative proposes, inviting risk and doubt to cloud results when compared to our current system.
The Democratic Party favors approaching RCV in a responsible manner, including testing RCV in more contests and in more areas to identify best practices and common issues before forcing it upon the entire state in an unproven and unsafe way.
This is not a partisan issue; we must ensure that everyone’s vote counts and that we do not give millionaires and special interests even more power over our democracy.
For more info: Western Colorado Alliance Strongly Opposes Prop 131
Proposition 128 - Concerning Eligibility for Parole
❌ VOTE NO
This initiative would increase the amount of prison time a person convicted of certain crimes of violence must serve before becoming eligible for discretionary parole or earned time reductions, and make a person convicted of a third crime of violence ineligible for discretionary parole or earned time reductions.
CDP recommends voting NO because:
This initiative removes the opportunity for convicted people to achieve earned time, giving them less incentive to obey prison rules or take advantage of rehabilitation opportunities. It will cause the prison population to grow, costing the state $28 million, and will require additional staff when many prisons are already short-staffed and have difficulty recruiting and retaining employees. There is no evidence the measure will reduce crime rates, nor that increased penalties deter crime in general. Colorado should instead invest in addressing the root causes of crime, including income inequality and a lack of community resources.
Amendment 80 - School Choice
❌ VOTE NO
This initiative addresses school choice for parents of children in K-12. It defines school choice to include private schools and “other future innovations in education.”
CDP recommends voting NO because:
The Colorado Constitution already guarantees a free public education and Colorado has robust school choice laws that allow parents to choose from many public school options, or to educate their children in private or home schools. The measure could result in redirecting funding from public schools to private and home schools.
More info:
Don’t be fooled: Amendment 80 is not just about school choice