Unaffiliated voters can cast ballots in Colorado’s GOP primaries this year, federal judge rules

By Sandra Fish | The Colorado Sun

Unaffiliated voters – who make up the largest share of the Colorado’s electorate – will still be allowed to participate in the state’s Republican primaries after a federal judge Friday rejected the Colorado GOP’s latest attempt to exclude them.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Philip A. Brimmer found the GOP failed to prove that Colorado’s law allowing unaffiliated voters to cast ballots in partisan primaries violates Republicans’ constitutional rights. He also wrote that the party “presented no evidence suggesting that Colorado’s semi-open primary system causes candidates to moderate or change their policy stances on specific issues.” 

The decision may be appealed, though it’s not clear there’s enough time for an appeal to be settled before the primaries on June 25.

“Let us read the opinion first,” Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams texted Friday to The Colorado Sun.

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