The Green Party candidate for secretary of state has dropped out of the race because he feared he would harm the candidacy of the Democrat.
Rick VanWie said he filed paperwork Friday to remove himself from the ballot.
“I didn’t want to prevent one of the major party candidates from winning, especially where one of the major candidates represents some of the issues that are important to me,” VanWie said.
VanWie said he and the Democratic candidate, state Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, support instant runoff voting. Such voting allows a voter to rank the candidates in order of preference.
“That was a big element of my campaign,” VanWie said, stressing that he thinks instant runoff voting would help bolster third-party candidates.
He said it became apparent during a candidate debate last week that the Republican in the race, State Treasurer Mike Coffman, didn’t support instant runoffs.
Coffman did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
Gordon said he welcomed the development.
“Rick knows I’m committed to greater citizen participation and reducing special-interest influence,” Gordon said. “Those issues resonated with him, and he knew it was unlikely he was going to win, and he didn’t want to take votes away from me.”
Staff writer Christopher N. Osher can be reached at 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com.
