[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6233797,"mediaKeyId","3414343-7ee274db5722b3fae4cbd03e98bc17bf","parentId",3414343,"title","Colorado enacts state Voting Rights Act; new vacancy laws raise constitutional questions","audioSeconds",994,"startMs",4554000,"endMs",5548000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3414343-7ee274db5722b3fae4cbd03e98bc17bf&start=4554&end=5548","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3414343-7ee274db5722b3fae4cbd03e98bc17bf/thumbnail_4554000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6233797/Colorado/Colorado-enacts-state-Voting-Rights-Act-new-vacancy-laws-raise-constitutional-questions","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6233797-9b4db97cdfc793e8db68a8cedb32940f/orig.mp4?Expires=1771189236&Signature=aw1EX09inKVmGqPgpLFBTD-8EODim7BJm6x-u9j6n8TwLriT5WUGqzop9zS7xVl7WURFTTXw8XV55dghbJhnVQ5oswtNSu12JXTKep4nGWgUQ03X0hsN-XdVLGDuYI7TZJN69z8bvDdD~dcsjr6HGEA82WEcXKMzhOdMzgEmuTpvHhdCAo1rbjSknzwotB4wRFO3hcY9J2h6W9eCrBebs8g9M9XDnkncuGmmlLE9hxTa2N9KoDOTuhycXGwiLWXZhQlHOz5C9tG-JGgjwO6vFeHKXuq8lNBt3GFzXhzubZ2KVUGrvBQiedZ9DeNV0IAlJS4-H5PchFwvu49Vtdklcw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","League of Women Voters of Colorado","date","2025-05-21T05:31:05.503Z","article","Denver — The League of Women Voters of Colorado task force discussed the state’s new Voting Rights Act and two related vacancy bills that passed during the legislative session, with participants flagging how the bills may affect who may run and who may vote in certain special vacancy elections.

\"Colorado is, I believe, now the ninth state to adopt a state level voting rights act,\" said Jen Cleland, a task force member and professor who summarized the statute’s goals. The act, she said, preserves many federal Voting Rights Act protections and adds state provisions that explicitly protect LGBTQ+ voters, disabled voters and Native American voters. Cleland noted the law requires more comprehensive election data collection by the secretary of state, including precinct‑level results and precinct maps for local and primary races — data advocates said will be useful for future voting‑rights assessments.

Timing and implementation: Task force members said the Voting Rights Act was signed by the governor the prior week and was expected to take effect in August, with data collection and other provisions applying to elections beginning the following January (as described by a participant in the meeting).

Vacancy bills: Participants also reviewed House Bill 1315 and House Bill 1319, which change vacancy procedures in some partisan offices. The bills preserve immediate party committee appointments to fill a vacancy, but require a special vacancy election that November if the vacancy occurs before July 31 of an odd‑numbered year. Task force members said both bills passed; H1315 was described as signed by the governor along with the Voting Rights Act, while H1319 passed but had not been signed at the time of the meeting.

Concerns raised: Several League participants said the vacancy‑election language is unusual because it limits who may run and who may vote in those special elections to the party that held the seat (and unaffiliated voters), excluding other parties and casting the contest as a party‑limited election. Speakers called that limitation a potential disenfranchisement of voters and flagged a possible constitutional issue under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Mark (last name not on record), who followed the legal debate in the meeting, cited Rodriguez v. Popular Democratic Party (a Puerto Rico case) as a potentially relevant precedent and said Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment has rarely been enforced but could be argued in litigation. \"We think that the fourteenth amendment specifically refers to members of the legislature and probably 13 15 would be unconstitutional,\" he said in the discussion of legislative office vacancies.

Process and next steps: Task force members recommended further research and outreach. Some urged the League and allied groups to consider sending letters to the secretary of state and relevant legislative offices to request clearer auditing guidance and to press for inclusive rules where the vacancy bills are concerned. Speakers noted that some implementation details could be clarified through administrative rulemaking (Rule 26 was cited as the secretary of state’s election rule that governs audits), but others said the statutory language itself may require legislative or judicial resolution.

No formal action was taken by the task force at the meeting. Members said they would review the bills and legal precedent and consider advocacy steps to ensure election data transparency and voter access in vacancy contests and to monitor how the Voting Rights Act’s data provisions are implemented.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","2025 05 19 Alternative Voting Methods","oneSentenceSummary","Task force members reviewed the recently signed Colorado Voting Rights Act and two vacancy bills that change special‑election timing and eligibility, prompting concerns about disenfranchisement and possible Fourteenth Amendment challenges.","taxTitle","Colorado Voter Access Modernized Elections Commission, Governor's Boards and Commissions, Organizations, Executive, Colorado","taxId",28158,"location","Colorado","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6233802,"Denver coalition pitches ranked-choice voting as council weighs audit, reporting and at‑large changes",3605,913000,4518000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3414343-7ee274db5722b3fae4cbd03e98bc17bf&start=913&end=4518","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3414343-7ee274db5722b3fae4cbd03e98bc17bf/thumbnail_913000.jpg","/articles/6233802/Colorado/Denver-coalition-pitches-ranked-choice-voting-as-council-weighs-audit-reporting-and-atlarge-changes","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6233802-5b787ae94405932353bcef71c6c791fd/orig.mp4?Expires=1771189236&Signature=lBAAlFhDQxKCo4hbKNdmdObwPtPbb~QBPuOJZGiCz7apPbxVYF8j6~z04MU1jFGaILEkLkqaC1X8~EGx-QJ0xBT6ObOUjCK6z5cFxKbRCz5SE0szppN17pABQMm3MP0uctTWuOxR8OOr5K5~tAYcGs82Z63gr3d9ManMQJ1aZVzNukOBi1XFa6dMRCKN0T2LNYa~DtvT6DE~F1kt8YHN9gO-v5P6gl4QbW2AOGUilNmicepcQr~huhA88LUoiLuzOniXn5qmmq5AFAgPNUo2~fxqaB3I61FK-sZZ0yIdYj09e3wwuj9Ra4W7Ya88lbhwI940-CdaXtx0K7QetWmU6Q__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Denver — Community advocates and Denver City Council staff outlined a proposal to replace some runoff elections with ranked‑choice voting and debated how the city would report tallies and audit results if the measure moves forward.

Supporters said the change would let voters rank candidates by preference, eliminate costly separate runoffs and allow more candidates to compete without acting as “spoilers.” Landon Moscarinas, a Denver organizer who said his coalition calls itself Denver Deserves Democracy, told the League of Women Voters of Colorado task force that the coalition is “a community coalition for instant runoff or ranked choice voting” and credited city council members who are advancing the idea.

The proposal presented by Zach Burley, council aide for Councilmember Sarah Paradis, would let voters rank candidates in order of preference. \"Essentially, you let voters rank in order and preference instead of picking just 1,\" Burley said, describing the instant‑runoff process in which the lowest‑placed candidates are eliminated and ballots are reallocated until a candidate reaches a majority of continuing ballots.

Why it matters: proponents argue ranked voting can increase choices for voters, reduce the cost and logistics of separate runoff elections and produce council and mayoral outcomes that better reflect voters’ broader preferences. The coalition provided a draft ballot question and a slide deck showing examples from other U.S. cities and discussing a roughly $2,000,000 per election‑cycle savings the Denver clerk’s office estimates would come from eliminating runoffs. Burley said the coalition intends to use some of those funds for voter education targeted to non‑English speakers.

Major areas of debate at the task force meeting were how to report interim results and how to conduct audits of ranked‑choice results. Task force members with audit experience pushed for transparent, round‑by‑round reporting of ballots received rather than releasing “final results” incrementally. Neil McBurnett, who described long experience with election integrity work, said he “would always report, and require reporting round by round,” warning that simplified batch reporting had upset Boulder voters in prior use. Celeste Landry, facilitator of the task force, advised avoiding language that implies early results are definitive.

Experts and staff also discussed whether Denver could apply ranked choice to the city's current two‑seat at‑large contest. Burley said the clerk’s office flagged technical limits for performing a risk‑limiting audit (RLA) on multi‑winner at‑large contests with current software. The group discussed two possible responses: keep the at‑large race as the current “pick your top two” plurality format now and revisit it later, or make ranked choice activation for at‑large seats contingent on availability of RLA‑capable software. Jean Colin and others noted recent mathematical work showing partial progress toward RLAs for two‑winner contests, but speakers agreed full implementation for multi‑winner audits remains a technical challenge.

Opposition and alternatives: Stacy Simonette, a senior council aide for Councilmember Kevin Flynn (who was not present), presented Flynn’s objections to ranked choice and relayed his view that the current plurality plus runoff system is preferable. Simonette summarized Flynn’s argument that ranked choice can produce winners who lack a majority of all cast ballots when ballots exhaust, saying Flynn’s review of dozens of RCV elections showed “only a handful yielded a true majority of the ballots that were cast.” Frank Atwood, chair of the Approval Voting Party of Colorado, urged consideration of approval‑style methods, which he described as easier to audit.

Implementation timeline and next steps: Burley said council staff are aiming to advance a proposal through council in July to make it eligible for the 2025 ballot; if approved by voters, implementation would be targeted for Denver’s 2027 municipal elections. He cautioned that the proposal is still evolving and several technical and policy changes were likely after councilmember input and clerk consultation. The coalition and League members at the meeting urged continued engagement on reporting rules, audit design and the possibility of studying proportional representation for multi‑member council seats.

The city council and clerk’s office will need to resolve audit and software readiness questions, decisions about public reporting of rounds, and whether at‑large seats should be handled separately or left unchanged for now.","Advocates, Denver council staff and voting experts discussed a proposal to use ranked‑choice (instant runoff) voting for Denver mayor and single‑seat offices and debated reporting methods, risk‑limiting audits and how to handle the city's two at‑large seats.","actionData","errors"]

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Colorado enacts state Voting Rights Act; new vacancy laws raise constitutional questions

Denver coalition pitches ranked-choice voting as council weighs audit, reporting and at‑large changes