Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Election Law

High Court Rejects Race-Based Map In Major Voting Rights Ruling
The Federalist, Approved, National

High Court Rejects Race-Based Map In Major Voting Rights Ruling

By Shawn Fleetwood | The Federalist ‘Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 … was designed to enforce the Constitution — not collide with it,’ wrote Justice Alito. The U.S. Supreme Court released a bombshell ruling on Wednesday significantly curtailing states’ use of race in the redistricting process. “Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 … was designed to enforce the Constitution — not collide with it. Unfortunately, lower courts have sometimes applied this Court’s §2 precedents in a way that forces States to engage in the very race-based discrimination that the Constitution forbids,” Associate Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority (6-3). Known as Louisiana v. Callais, the case centers around Louisiana’s creation of a ...
Federal Judge Keeps Unaffiliated Voters In Colorado GOP Primaries
The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Federal Judge Keeps Unaffiliated Voters In Colorado GOP Primaries

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer said excluding unaffiliated voters days before the state’s ballot certification deadline, and just weeks before ballots start being mailed out, would create too much confusion. A federal judge Tuesday rejected the Colorado GOP’s last-ditch effort to block unaffiliated voters from participating in the party’s June 30 primaries.  U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer said excluding unaffiliated voters days before the state’s ballot certification deadline, and just weeks before ballots start being mailed out, would create too much confusion.  The Republican Party asked Brimmer on April 20 to issue an emergency order preventing state elections officials from mailing Republican primary ball...
Colorado Primary Battles Intensify As Voters Face Crowded 2026 Ballots
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Primary Battles Intensify As Voters Face Crowded 2026 Ballots

By Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics With just over two months to go until ballots are counted in Colorado’s primary, candidates are squaring off in high-stakes contests for their party’s nominations in statewide and congressional races approaching the midterm election. For the first time in memory, state voters will have the chance to elect an entire new slate of state-level executive officials — from governor and attorney general to secretary of state and state treasurer — since those offices’ Democratic incumbents all face term limits. At the same time, Democrats will decide which candidate to nominate in the state’s marquee U.S. House race, where the Republican incumbent in the 8th Congressional District is facing three potential challengers in what’s expected to b...
Trump Allies Eye Unconventional Response To Virginia Redistricting Fight
Fox News, Approved, Commentary, National

Trump Allies Eye Unconventional Response To Virginia Redistricting Fight

By Chad R. Mizelle | Commentary, Fox News Returning Arlington to the District of Columbia would fight fire with fire. If you’re proud of something, you want people to see it. That is why it’s telling that Virginia Democrats are asking Old Dominion residents to vote for a redistricting scheme without allowing their proposed map to be printed on the ballots. But it’s no wonder: the mid-decade redistricting proposal is an obscene gerrymander that will wipe out all but one GOP-leaning congressional district in the state. And, of course, they claim it’s all done in the name of "democracy." This dishonest power play seeks to make the congressional representation of a purple state nearly as blue as Massachusetts. It disenfranchises nearly half the commonwea...
After GOP vote to close primary: Clerks warn timing could complicate June election
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

After GOP vote to close primary: Clerks warn timing could complicate June election

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado Republicans left Pueblo with more than a slate of candidates. They left with a plan to change who votes—and how soon that could happen. At the state assembly, delegates backed a legal push to stop Republican ballots from going out to unaffiliated voters. Republican National Committeeman Randy Corporon and attorney John Eastman are expected to file an injunction in court this week. The primary is set for June 30. At this point, it’s not about whether Republicans want a closed primary. It’s whether it can happen in time. Colorado law currently allows unaffiliated voters to take part in primary elections by choosing a party ballot. Changing that—even through a court order—would have to work inside a system that is already u...
Colorado Officials Say Trump Election Order Oversteps Constitutional Limits
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Officials Say Trump Election Order Oversteps Constitutional Limits

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Colorado leaders criticized President Donald Trump’s new executive order issued Tuesday, arguing that its creation of a national voter‑eligibility list and new limits on mail voting violate states’ constitutional authority to run their own elections. President Donald Trump has frequently criticized mail-in voting, calling it “mail-in cheating.” Through the SAVE Act in Congress, the president has sought to require voters to show an ID before casting a ballot. The measure, approved by the U.S. House, has stalled in the U.S. Senate. “The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary. It’s horrible what’s going on,” Trump said a news conference, repeating allegations about the security of mail ballots as he signed the order. “I thi...
Federal Judge Clears Path For Colorado GOP To Reclaim Primary Control
The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Federal Judge Clears Path For Colorado GOP To Reclaim Primary Control

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun The judge ruled the requirement that 75% of the Colorado GOP or the Colorado Democratic Party must support opting out of the primaries before it can happen “constitutes a severe burden on the major parties’ right to association and is therefore unconstitutional”. he Republicans who have long sought to stop their party from participating in Colorado’s primaries, mainly out of opposition to how unaffiliated voters are now allowed to cast ballots in them, received a major boost late Tuesday when a federal judge ruled that the burden for opting out is unconstitutionally high.  U.S. District Court Judge Philip A. Brimmer found the requirement that 75% of the Colorado GOP or the Colorado Democratic Party’s central committee must suppor...
Federal order puts Colorado’s mail ballot system on a collision course
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Federal order puts Colorado’s mail ballot system on a collision course

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The way Colorado runs elections hasn’t changed—but a new federal order could force it to. The order would have federal agencies assemble a nationwide list of verified U.S. citizens and share it with state election officials. States could then choose to send their own voter lists to the U.S. Postal Service about 60 days before an election. If they do, ballots would be limited to the names on those lists. In Colorado, that framework could fundamentally change how elections work. Colorado’s system leaves very little room to miss your chance. Ballots go out to every active voter—even those who register just days before Election Day. And for anyone who doesn’t, same-day registration still allows them to walk in and vote right up until po...
Poll Shows 83% of Voters Support Election Day Ballot Deadlines
The Federalist, Approved, National

Poll Shows 83% of Voters Support Election Day Ballot Deadlines

By: Maisey Jefferson | The Federalist While the Supreme Court on Monday expressed skepticism about states accepting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, an overwhelming majority of voters have already decided against the practice, according to a recent poll conducted just days before the high court heard oral arguments in Watson v. RNC. As The Federalist’s Shawn Fleetwood reported, Watson “deals with a challenge to a Mississippi law authorizing absentee ballots to be accepted up to five days after Election Day so long as they are postmarked before or on the day of the contest.” A survey of 1,600 likely voters conducted on behalf of the Honest Elections Project earlier this month found that 93 percent of Republicans, 83...
High Court Weighs Limits On Mail Ballots As Election Debate Intensifies
Colorado Politics, Approved, National

High Court Weighs Limits On Mail Ballots As Election Debate Intensifies

By: Mark Sherman | Colorado Politics WASHINGTON • The Supreme Court ‘s conservative majority on Monday sounded skeptical of state laws that allow the counting of late-arriving mail ballots. The court heard arguments in a case from Mississippi that also could affect voters in 13 other states and the District of Columbia, which have grace periods for ballots cast by mail. An additional 15 states that have more forgiving deadlines for ballots from military and overseas voters also could be impacted. Colorado already requires mail ballots to be received at county clerks’ offices by the time polling locations close on Election Day, although Colorado and the majority of states allow certain military and overseas ballots to be acce...