Pam Anderson, Long-Time Colorado& National Election Expert Opposes Prop 131

Pam Anderson, one of Colorado’s foremost experts on elections, is voting NO on Prop 131, a ballot proposal to drastically overhaul the state’s nationally respected election laws.

Anderson is a national expert on conducting accessible, secure and accurate elections and was featured on the cover of Time magazine as a Defender of Democracy. She is the former Jefferson County Clerk, former director of the Colorado County Clerks Association and was the 2022 Republican candidate for Colorado Secretary of State.

Her full statement is below: 

“As someone who has worked on Colorado elections for decades, I have been asked to explain why I’m voting NO on Proposition 131, a ballot measure that would drastically change our elections.

I start by telling them that it is a confusing mash-up of policies that would produce increased errors resulting in invalidated votes and likely not solve the political divisiveness the ads hint it will fix. It’s half-baked, covers only half the candidates and only tells half the story.

Why is it confusing? Only select Colorado candidates on the ballot are covered by 131. That means voters will have a new voting method for some of the candidates, but vote under our current method for the others, in both primaries and general elections. If you think the current ballots are long and complex…just wait.

It is frustrating to watch a barrage of television and digital ads that tell only one piece of the story. Those ads tout “open primaries” as a possible solution for better elections. They don’t talk about ranked choice voting for some races, but not for others. 

As an election official, I have witnessed ranked-choice voting elections and it is complicated, confusing and does not have the transparent feel of our current system. It looks like a carnival shell game, where an algorithm spits out a winner after waiting - sometimes weeks - for final results.

Under our existing system, voters can look at their ballot and understand where their votes were counted, either on the losing or winning side. With ranked-choice voting, that vote will be impossible to decipher, making it tough to trust the system.

All of these issues could have been avoided had the proponents of 131 consulted Colorado election officials before they spent millions putting the initiative on the ballot. And it will be expensive for taxpayers - at least $21 million in the first three years alone.

If 131 passes, Colorado would be smart to follow the county clerks’ advice and pilot test this new system in several different locations, rural and urban, small and large counties with different demographics, before attempting to implement it statewide.

Election officials here and across the country, both citizen judges and elections employees, are facing an avalanche of violent threats, false conspiracy theories and angry partisans. They did not sign up for this and don’t deserve the backlash and more confusion Prop 131 will inevitably cause. This is not the right time or environment to introduce a drastic, complicated election change.

Join me and vote NO on Prop. 131.”