Nearly 1.5 million voters have signed petitions to qualify open primary initiatives nationwide; three are already on the ballot
Colorado Voters First turned in nearly 210,000 voter signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office Thursday, officially becoming the sixth state where voters have taken this important step toward qualifying an open all-candidate primary initiative for the November ballot. Collectively, nearly 1.5 million Americans have signed petitions in those six states to qualify primary reform measures for the November ballot.
2024 has already set a record for the most election-related ballot initiatives since the early 1900s. As many as nine could ultimately qualify - seven related to primary reform alone. Open or all-candidate primary initiatives are already on the ballot in Idaho, Nevada, and South Dakota; Arizona, Montana, and Washington, D.C., are on track to qualify later this month; and Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold has until Sept. 4 to determine whether Colorado Voters First collected the required 124,238 valid signatures.
Nick Troiano, Unite America Executive Director and author of The Primary Solution, issued the following statement:
“Like Simone Biles’ medal count, the election reform movement keeps racking up victories. With a record number of initiatives, 2024 is proving to be the year that Americans realized primaries are the problem. A whopping six states aim to abolish party primaries, which would ensure every eligible voter’s freedom to vote for any candidate, regardless of party, in every taxpayer-funded election.
“We’re inspired by the more-than 200,000 Colorado voters who signed on in support of fairer elections in less than two months, and we look forward to seeing this open primaries initiative - and similar voter-led initiatives across the country - officially qualify in the coming weeks.”
Additional information on Colorado’s primary system:
