PRIMARIES

Opponents of the measure argue it would make it hard for anyone but those who can a ord to collect signatures to run for o ce.

Candidates for U.S. Senate and governor in Colorado must collect 1,500 voter signatures in each of the state’s eight congressional districts. ey can’t reasonably collect all of those on their own, so campaigns pay rms tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to collect signatures on their behalf.

Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat who sits on the Senate State, Military and Veterans Committee, said she will vote “no” on the measure.

“Both of these processes reward the people who do the work,” Gonzales said, noting that she went through both the caucus and assembly as well as the signature gathering process to make the ballot in her rst legislative election.

Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, said Senate Bill 101 would mean “you have to pay to get on the ballot.”

“I’m not comfortable with a process that says the way to get on the ballot essentially is by paying to get there,” he said. “Caucus has its aws, for sure. But I think it’s an important option to have. I don’t know why we would remove options. Instead we should talk about expanding options for voters and candidates.” e Colorado Democratic Party and America Votes, a liberal national nonpro t, both oppose the bill. Grassroots Republicans and the Colorado Libertarian Party are also encouraging supporters to voice opposition to the legislation.

Voters First Colorado, part of the national, nonpartisan group Unite America, supports Senate Bill 101.

Unite America was a proponent of Alaska’s switch to an open primary where both Democratic and Republican candidates are on the same ballot and voters’ top four choices advance to the general election. Voters then use ranked-choice voting — in which they order their preferred candidates — to select the winner.

Nevada voters approved a similar system last year.

Kirkmeyer said she’s open to amending her bill to lower the signature requirements for candidates to make the ballot, but she thinks her bill is a reasonable way to make ballot access more equitable.

Right now, she argues, it’s too easy for third-party candidates to get on the ballot. Kirkmeyer lost a 2022 congressional bid by less than 1 percentage point in a race where the Libertarian candidate picked up 4% of the vote. And she said it’s unfair that una liated voters, who make up the largest voting bloc in Colorado, aren’t allowed to sign partisan candidates’ ballot-access petitions.

“For those people who say, ‘now you’re making people pay-to-play,’ my response to that is if a 63-yearold woman can get volunteers and go get her signatures — me — without having to pay for them, I think anyone can do it,” she said.

(Kirkmeyer had to collect 1,500 signatures to make the ballot in the 8th Congressional District last year.)

Barbara Kirkmeyer talks to a iry is also pushing for alterations to Colorado’s presidential primary elections after votes cast for Democratic candidates such as Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who dropped out of the contest between when ballots were mailed to voters and Election Day, ended up being meaningless.

District 8 voter with election 2022 banners behind her.

Kirkmeyer’s position is notable because some in the Colorado GOP want to ban candidates from gathering petition signatures to make the primary ballot. A right-wing contingent in the party is pushing for a rules change because they view candidates who make the ballot by gathering signatures as less ideologically pure than those who go through the caucus and assembly process.

“ e Secretary of State and the legislature should x this problem, and we think there are a number of ways to do that,” iry told e Sun. “We’re very much hoping that they will pick one.” iry declined to endorse a speci c solution. ere’s interest in, at a minimum, requiring the disclosure of how many votes are cast in presidential primary elections for candidates who are no longer in the race. at information wasn’t shared in 2020. Another idea that has been discussed among lawmakers is moving Colorado toward Alaska’s election model.

“If we suddenly started advocating for one, that would distract attention from the fact that what needs to be solved is the problem,” he said.

Sen. Je Bridges, D-Greenwood