September 13, 2024
Initiative 310 gets a new name on the Colorado general election ballot. Now, Proposition 131, is still just as fatal to voter choice and minor parties across the state.
Read the full Green Party of Colorado statement below.
For Immediate Release:
Green Party of Colorado Opposes Proposition 131 Due to Top-Four Primaries
The Green Party of Colorado (GPCO) believes democracy is enhanced when all voters have a real opportunity to elect public officials who reflect their views. Instead, Proposition 131 would reduce democracy in Colorado by reducing voter choice and increasing the influence of big money in politics. Therefore, the GPCO opposes Proposition 131 — and calls for its defeat on the November 2024 ballot.
“Proposition 131 would limit voter choice on the General Election ballot; increase ‘vote-splitting’ and random results in the primary; drive smaller parties off the ballot, eliminate general election write-in voting, and make primary elections more expensive – increasing the role of big money in our elections and further corrupting our democracy,” according to GPCO Co-chair Desmond Wallington.
“Therefore, it’s not surprising that big-moneyed interests are behind proposition 131’s top four, ‘jungle’ primary, along with similar ballot measures in other states, at the cost of broader and deeper representation for regular voters.” says GPCO Co-chair Patrick Dillon.
“Most cynically, Proposition 131 hijacks a popular idea like Ranked Choice Voice (RCV) for general elections by attaching it to an anti-democratic, non-RCV system like ‘top four’, all-candidate ‘jungle’ primaries,” said Wallington.
“Proposition 131’s big money backers claim that by eliminating party primaries and weakening political parties, it empowers voters,“ says Dillon. “But this ‘anti-party narrative’ presumes without justification that the large number of non-affiliated Colorado voters means these voters reject political parties per se. The reality is that all voters deserve representation. But any system that elects our state and federal legislators from single-seat, winner-take-all districts (as under top four systems), means large number of voters in each legislative district will always go without representation by someone who shares their views, and many voters will feel there is no party with a chance of winning in single-seat, winner-take-all districts that represents them at all. That is the democratic deficit issue that must be addressed by real reform.”
“Instead of limiting voter choice via winner-take-all top four election, the GPCO supports a full range of parties with clearly defined platforms appearing on the general election ballot, that reflect the real diversity of political viewpoints within Colorado — and an electoral system that allows them all to run candidates and win legislative seats in proportion to their percentage of the popular vote,” says Wallington
“That’s why the GPCO supports using RCV to elect our state and federal representatives by proportional representation from multi-seat legislative districts; and for use in party primaries and general election elections to elect single-seat offices like governor and president, so that more voters have a say in who is the ultimate winner,” adds Dillon.
“Proposition 131 is the wrong response to Colorado’s lack of fuller representation for all voters. Greens reject Proposition 131’s false promise and call for real reform that gives all Colorado voters a seat at the table of our democracy,” says Wallington.
