POINT/COUNTERPOINT: Politicians attempt to subvert voters (again)
My June 2024 column for Colorado Politics and the Colorado Springs/Denver Gazettes
Below is an excerpt from my June column. If you’d like to read the full version, please click here.
This insiders’ undercut was undoubtedly the low point in an otherwise uneventful end to this year’s legislative session. Senate Bill 24-210, a bipartisan election reform bill, was not particularly contentious as it made its way through the legislature. As is the case with many bills of this nature, some last-minute changes can be made via amendment, and in the final days of the session, those tend to come quite rapidly and with little consideration. Some state legislators, understanding those time limitations, snuck in what has been dubbed a “poison pill” for a ballot initiative that will most likely go before voters this November.
This sneaky amendment was pushed by those in power because they viewed a specific citizen’s initiative as being a threat to that power. This is a tactic they’ve deployed before, and unless voters start holding them accountable, it’s one they’ll use again.
Whether or not you agree with the citizen’s initiative that this move aimed to preempt — Initiative 310 — politicians’ chicanery to prevent citizens from bringing initiatives to the ballot should be universally condemned. Nearly 90% of Coloradans support the right to vote directly on ballot measures, according to a March poll by the Colorado Polling Institute.
NOTE: Since submitting this article, Governor Jared Polis has disappointingly signed Senate Bill 24-210 into law. You can read about that here. In his letter that accompanied the signing, the Governor admitted the amendment was added “without proper stakeholding.”
Full disclosure, which I also provide in the full column: I am actively engaged with the Colorado Voters First campaign and am working to pass Initiative 310 this year. It is a cause I supported before joining the campaign. I hope to talk to you all more about it in the coming year.