The Colorado Republican Party may opt out of open primaries later this year, and I am torn over how I feel about it.
On one hand, I am an unaffiliated voter who has publicly taken advantage of the ability to participate in either major party primary. Proposition 108, approved by voters in 2016, granted unaffiliated voters that right.
It seems a certain segment of the GOP wants to undermine that mandate. I am sure that I am not alone bristling at that outcome. With more than 40% of state voters joining me in the ranks of the unaffiliated, it must leave a bad taste in their mouths as well.
But I also think this move could hasten the death of party primary elections, the single most corrosive mechanism in partisan politics. That could be good for Colorado.
