This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at coloradosun.com.
A federal judge Tuesday rejected the Colorado GOP’s last-ditch effort to block unaffiliated voters from participating in the party’s June 30 primaries.
U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer said excluding unaffiliated voters days before the state’s ballot certification deadline, and just weeks before ballots start being mailed out, would create too much confusion.
The Republican Party asked Brimmer on April 20 to issue an emergency order preventing state elections officials from mailing Republican primary ballots to unaffiliated voters.
The request piggybacked off a ruling late last month from Brimmer finding that a 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.”
Randy Corporon and Alexander Haberbush, two lawyers for the Colorado GOP, wrote that since the party’s opt-out vote had to happen by Oct. 1, 2025, and Brimmer’s ruling wasn’t issued until March 31, unaffiliated voters should be blocked from participating in the Republican primaries “to prevent irreparable constitutional injury.”
County clerks must send ballots for the June 30 primary to military and overseas voters by May 16, the same day elections officials are required to provide a ballot to any voter who requests one in person at a county clerk’s office. Clerks can mail ballots to the rest of the electorate on June 8.
The four Colorado Republicans in Congress joined the National Republican Congressional Committee in opposing the Colorado GOP’s request. U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert of Windsor, Jeff Crank of Colorado Springs, Jeff Hurd of Grand Junction, and Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton — along with the NRCC — told the court that preventing unaffiliated voters from casting ballots in Republican primaries this year “could cause chaos.”
In a written statement, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat who was the defendant in the case, said Brimmer made the right decision.
“This decisive ruling ensures that the Colorado June primary aligns with Colorado law,” she said.
Unaffiliated voters, who now make up a majority of the state’s active, registered electorate, have been able to cast ballots in either the state’s Democratic or Republican primaries since 2018.
In 2016, voters passed Proposition 108, opening up the primaries to unaffiliateds. But a faction of Republicans has tried ever since to halt unaffiliated participation in GOP primaries, arguing that it dilutes the conservatism of their candidates.
