Colorado GOP goes all in on trying to block una liated voters

BY SANDRA FISH AND JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN

e Colorado GOP led a federal lawsuit July 31 doubling down on its attempt to block una liated voters from casting ballots in the party’s 2024 primaries as part of a controversial strategy to help Republicans exit obscurity after three straight election cycles of defeat.

e legal action came as the party’s leaders were set to gather Aug. 6 to consider a bylaws amendment backed by Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams that would make it easier for Republicans to opt out of Colorado’s primaries next year altogether.

e amendment failed e Republican Party is represented in the lawsuit by John Eastman, the attorney who helped Donald Trump try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and who appeared to be an unindicted coconspirator in an indictment against Trump that was released recently.

Randy Corporon, a conservative talk radio host and a member of the Republican National Committee, is also representing the GOP in the case. e defendant is Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat and the state’s top elections o cial.

“We welcome all una liated to have a say in selecting our nominees but we will not stand idly by as radical left-wing organizations use an unconstitutional law to further harm our election e orts,” Williams wrote in an email to Colorado GOP members Tuesday announcing the legal action. e email also asked for donations to support the lawsuit.

A federal judge rejected a similar lawsuit led by a group of Republicans in 2020 seeking to ban unafliated voters from the primary that year. e judge said the plainti s didn’t have standing to sue because the legal action wasn’t brought by the state party itself. Eastman and Corporon were also the attorneys in that suit.

Eastman was a conservative scholar at the University of Colorado and he may soon be disbarred by the state of California for his spread of

Arapahoe County GOP Chair Anne Rowland addressed the group at Maggiano’s Little Italy.

2020 election conspiracies.

e latest lawsuit seeks to exempt the Colorado GOP from a 2016 ballot measure that lets una liated voters cast ballots in partisan primaries.

e complaint alleges that the 2022 GOP primary outcomes in the U.S. Senate, gubernatorial and secretary of state contests may have been di erent if some 246,000 una liated voters had not joined 423,000 Republicans in casting ballots in the parties’ primaries. e margins of victory in those contests ranged from nearly 49,000 votes to nearly 89,000 votes.

“Una liated voters have had an outcome-determinative impact on at least some prior Republican primary elections,” the lawsuit said.

e lawsuit included a copy of a Colorado Sun story from last year highlighting how more una liated voters cast ballots last year in the GOP’s primaries than they ever before. However, there were no statewide contested Democratic primaries in 2022.

Una liated voters make up the largest share of Colorado’s electorate, at nearly 50%.

“ e court dismissed the prior lawsuit and we continue to believe the new lawsuit has no merit,” Griswold said in a statement. “As Secretary of State, I will always stand up for voters to ensure that their constitutional right to cast a ballot is protected.” e amendment, drafted by conservative commentator Chuck Bonniwell, will be considered Saturday at the Colorado GOP’s central committee meeting in Castle Rock. It requires two-thirds support to pass, a threshold that Bonniwell admitted he may not be able to meet. e amendment would make a nonvote by a member of the central committee an automatic “yes” vote on any action that requires the approval of at least 70% of the committee’s support to pass. Under Propo- sition 108, the 2016 ballot measure letting una liated voters cast ballots in partisan primaries, the Colorado Democratic and Republican parties can opt out of the change if 75% of their respective central committees agree to do so.

Meanwhile, Williams, who was elected party chair in March, announced last week that he supports an amendment to the state party’s bylaws that would make it easier for Republicans to opt out of Colorado’s 2024 primaries.

“If the Bonniwell amendment fails to pass, then there will be no realistic chance to even preserve the right to opt-out of the open primary,” Williams wrote in an email to Republican Party Members.

“ is public pronouncement isn’t being taken lightly,” Williams wrote. “Both proponents and opponents of this amendment should have faith that the process is free and fair from any undue in uence, especially from someone who is charged with administering the debate.”

Williams said in a letter to the central committee that he will hand over his gavel Saturday to the chairman pro tem at the Colorado GOP’s central committee meeting “to absolutely ensure that faith is maintained in the process.” e GOP branches in Weld, Morgan and Arapahoe counties have written letters opposing the Bonniwell amendment.

But not all Republicans think the amendment is a good idea.

“To strip any citizen of the right to vote or not vote under both the Colorado and United States Constitution is simply wrong no matter how you look at it,” Hunter Rivera, acting chairman of the Weld County Republican Party, said in a written statement. “Automatically making a nonvote a ‘yes’ vote ies in the face of the principles this country was built on.”

Arapahoe County GOP Chair Anne Rowland wrote in a letter that the amendment is “unfair.” She said it “negates the voice of duly elected members of the central committee and their constituents — the workhorses of our party who are also entitled to a voice through their elected representative.” e Morgan County GOP said in its letter that it is “strongly” opposed to the Bonniwell amendment and called it “morally and ethically wrong.” is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

“To avoid the disenfranchisement of grassroots Republicans, no vote should ever be cast or counted — either in the a rmative or the negative — unless the CRC member who is guaranteed that right to vote casts that themselves or grants another individual the right to cast that vote in their absence by proxy,” the letter said.

“ e Morgan County Republican Party believes (the Bonniwell amendment) has been brought forth only because current Republican State Party leadership does not believe it has the … majority needed” to opt out of the primary, the letter said.