Latest News
Many invalidated ballots likely to result from Proposition 131
Evie Hudak - Sept. 17, 2024
Proposition 131 is promoted as being focused on ranked-choice voting, but it is much more about implementing radical changes to the primary election system and restricting voter choice in the general election. The proposition would complicate the voting process, favor wealthier candidates, confuse voters, and fail to deliver a better system.
Meet Kent Thiry, the money behind changing Colorado elections
John Frank - Sept. 17, 2024
Thiry, she says, is "an egomaniac who thinks he has the answer to everything."
The multimillionaire who reshaped Colorado’s electoral system wants to make even bigger changes
Andrew Kenney - Aug. 20, 2024
His critics, including prominent elections officials, see Thiry as a bull in a china shop, throwing around his weight and leaving others to clean up the mess, whether it’s by revising his proposals or hitting his aggressive timelines.
“It seems like when you get to a certain place, financially … you can just snap your fingers and think it gets done that easily,” said Matt Crane, a former Republican county clerk and the executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association. “And that's certainly not the case” with election system changes, he added.
Opinion: Think ranked-choice voting is good for Denver elections? Data tells a different story
Kevin Flynn - Aug. 20, 2024
…That’s because ranked-choice voting rarely produces a majority winner.
How so? Isn’t ranked choice a sort of “instant runoff,” letting us replace our 72-year tradition of guaranteeing a majority result through a runoff election?
No, it is a confusing and opaque way of reverting to the old plurality voting system, where whoever gets more votes wins regardless of percentage….
In my analysis of 51 elections across the country decided by the ranked-choice method, only eight “winners” had a true majority of the votes that were cast. But of those eight mayoral elections decided by ranked choice in Minneapolis, San Francisco, Oakland, Portland and New York, not a single one resulted in a true majority winner. Even incumbents failed to get a true majority.
The Case Against Ranked Choice Voting
July 24, 2024
Proposed changes to Colorado election laws need greater reality testing before we try to go statewide
Lori Mitchell & Carly Koppes - Jun 27, 2024
Every year, we “tweak” Colorado election laws to accommodate what we learned from past elections to make improvements. For instance, we have expanded election laws to increase the number of voting centers and ballot drop-boxes across the state, expanded voter access on college campuses, instituted automatic voter registration, expanded multi-lingual ballot access and required post-election accuracy and transparency checks.
We will need significant infrastructure updates and time if the new model is approved by voters. New software would need to be developed for RCV on two voting systems (Dominion and Clear Ballot) and election workers would need to be trained to use the software. Citizen election judges also will need to be retrained.
Two counties use voting systems that are not certified for RCV, which will require retraining and will make statewide post-election accuracy audits problematic. Also critical will be significant voter education, which is always necessary when there is a major change to elections, to prevent voter confusion and voter error that would nullify a vote.
Research from the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, University of Minnesota and others indicates that RCV has caused voter confusion in other states and can lead to increased voter error. These same studies indicate there was decreased voter participation, particularly among minorities, younger, less informed and marginalized voters.
Colorado's clerks advocate for ballot access for all
Matt Crane - Jun 18, 2024
Three different election models in the same year — this simple example demonstrates a clear need for additional voter education, support, and a reasonable runway for implementation for changes. In some counties, current voting equipment cannot count ranked-choice ballots. Parts of the system responsible for reporting results must be significantly upgraded. And Colorado’s existing auditing following each election will have to be reworked entirely across all 64 counties. We won’t apologize for calling these significant issues out and insisting we have the needed time and investment to ensure we can run safe and accurate elections…
County clerks will always advocate for every tool and resource needed to ensure every eligible voter in their county has the ability to vote their conscience in each election. And we won’t apologize for that, regardless of how loud our opponents are, or how much money they are willing to spend.
If Kent Thiry’s latest election initiative upends Colorado politics, it would be the first time
Chase Woodruff - June 12, 2024
Twice before, ex-DaVita CEO has bankrolled reforms that changed processes, but not outcomes
Kent Thiry: Democracy Defender or Real-Life Monopoly Man?
Ray Manzari - March 29, 2024
His leadership at DaVita was marked by a focus on corporate profitability and efficiency in some cases over the lives of his patients. DaVita, under the leadership of Thiry, engaged in considerably anti-labor practices and in more than one case fought against fair and equal access to healthcare.
Thiry’s significant financial involvement in Colorado politics, combined with the controversies surrounding his business practices and legal entanglements, has raised serious questions about the fairness and integrity of money in politics.
As Kent Thiry Pushes for Election Reform in Colorado, Local Activists Push Back
Amos Barshard - March. 06, 2024
Opponents say that under the guise of saving democracy, Unite America wants to mute the power of political parties altogether, and what that may leave is a playing field ostensibly open to all but in reality quickly dominated by the ultra-rich. Lee Drutman, senior fellow at the left-of-center think tank New America, has argued that under open primaries, parties “become brands anybody can purchase for enough money.”