Ranked-choice voting measure fails in Colorado

A measure to implement top-four, all-candidate primaries and ranked-choice voting in the general election has failed in Colorado, Decision Desk HQ projects.

Coloradans voted down the proposed change, keeping the state's current primary model, which lets unaffiliated voters participate in party primaries.

The measure would have grouped candidates of all affiliations on to the same primary ballot, then advanced the top four vote-getters to the general, regardless of party. Voters would also have ranked the candidates by preference in the general election.

The measure faced opposition from state Democrats. The Green Party also swung at wealthy donors behind the effort: Kent Thiry, the former CEO of Denver-based health care company DaVita, was a big backer of the ballot measure. The initiative drew big spending numbers both for and against, the Colorado Sun reported, as organizers pushed for Colorado to join Alaska and Maine, the only two states with ranked-choice voting systems.

Under ranked-choice voting, voters rank the candidates by preference. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is dropped off, and the results are recalculated — ballots with the eliminated candidate as their first-choice are shifted to their voters’ second choice. The process repeats until a candidate wins a majority.

Measures to open up primaries and implement ranked choice systems were on the ballot in several other states on Tuesday.