Colorado’s Rise In Independent Voters Reflects Growing Party Discontent

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun

The vast majority of unaffiliated voters in Colorado say they intentionally registered that way, according to findings from a new poll, eroding the assumption that the growing share of unaffiliated voters in the state in recent years has been caused by automatic voter registration. 

Under a 2019 law, people are automatically registered to vote when they have an interaction with the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles. They’re registered as unaffiliated unless and until they affiliate with a party. 

Hundreds of thousands of Coloradans have been registered to vote through automatic voter registration, and during that time the share of unaffiliated voters in the state has steadily increased. As of Dec. 1, unaffiliated voters made up half of active, registered voters statewide. Unaffiliated voters also made up the largest share of the electorate in each of the state’s eight congressional districts.

But a poll of 1,210 active, registered Colorado voters last month found that 86% of those who said they were unaffiliated voters said they intentionally chose to register that way, while 5% said they were automatically registered as unaffiliated and 9% said they weren’t sure or didn’t know how if being unaffiliated was intentional or not.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE COLORADO SUN