How Colorado’s Proposition 131 would affect primaries and elections

Proposition 131 on Colorado’s November ballot proposes significant changes to the number of high-profile elections.

If approved by voters, the measure would apply to races for state offices (including for statewide officials and the Legislature) and federal representatives in Congress. Each race would hold an open primary for all candidates rather than party primaries, with up to four top vote-getters advancing to the general election.

This fall election would determine the winner through ranked-choice voting, a process that advocates say is more likely to result in a consensus candidate winning the election.

Here’s how this system would play out in a hypothetical scenario – a future race for governor.

The race

Let’s look at 2034, when five Democrats will run for governor. There are also three Republicans, a Libertarian and an independent candidate.

The June primaries

In the open primary at the end of June, all ten candidates will appear together on the ballot – and all registered voters, regardless of their party affiliation or non-party status, can take part. Each voter chooses a candidate they want to support. The top four finishers in the results are three Democrats – Jim, Jill and Alex – and a Republican named Sam. (Sorry, anonymous libertarian and unaffiliated candidates).

The November general election

Jim, Jill, Sam and Alex then appear on the November ballot. But this time voters aren’t voting for just one. They fill in bubbles next to each candidate’s name and rank them in order of preference, from 1 to 4.

Round 1: Because votes are tabulated on Election Day, only voters’ first choice is initially counted. If one candidate receives a majority of those votes, then that’s it – that candidate is the next governor of Colorado. But in this scenario, Sam gets 35% of the top votes, Jill gets 32%, Alex gets 22%, and Jim gets 11%. Since no one gets the majority, the person with the fewest number of votes – Jim – is eliminated.

Round 2: Jim’s supporters still have a voice. Any ballot where Jim was elected first will automatically roll back to that voter’s next-place choice – and his vote will now count for that candidate. After Jim’s share of the vote of 11% was distributed by his supporters’ preferences among the remaining candidates – 5% for Jill and 3% each for Sam and Alex – the result is the following ranking: Sam with 38%, Jill with 37% and Alex with 25 %. Again, no one has the majority, so Alex is automatically eliminated.