DENVER—The only unaffiliated member in Colorado’s Legislature wants to make it easier for other independent candidates to get on the ballot, but she needs the support of the two-party system from which she walked away.
Rep. Kathleen Curry, a rancher from Gunnison, was a Democrat until last year when she announced she didn’t fit into either party and was switching her affiliation to unaffiliated. But her switch came too late for her to win a spot on the ballot as an unaffiliated candidate and now, after winning election three times as a Democrat, she’s facing the prospect of mounting a write-in campaign for re-election.
Curry is asking lawmakers to shorten the waiting time for unnaffiliated and minor party members to get on the ballot but the bill, up for its first vote on Monday, wouldn’t apply to her.
About a third of Colorado voters are registered as unaffiliated voters and they’re courted by the major parties in tight races. Unaffiliated candidates in state races are more rare and Colorado is one of eight states to require that independent candidates show they haven’t been affiliated with a party for a certain length of time.
At 17 months, Colorado has the longest wait time of all those states, according to legislative analysts.
State law requires Republican or Democratic candidates to be registered with their parties for twelve months before an election—at least, up to a point. The law also allows the parties to establish their own rules which trump the year requirement in the law.
Curry is proposing that unaffiliated and minor party candidates only have to be registered by Jan. 1 of the year in which the election will be held. The Jan. 1 requirement would also techincally apply to Republican and Democratic candidates but the major parties would keep the right to set their own rules.
The bill, which is backed by Colorado Common Cause, wouldn’t take effect until the 2012 election cycle. Curry said she didn’t want to jeopardize the success of the bill by making it apply to her own election because she feared it would look self-serving and because of lingering resentment about her decision to leave the Democratic Party. She said there’s more at stake than her re-election.
“This is about the fact that more than a third of voters are not necessarily represented in this building,” she said after the bill’s first hearing at the Capitol.
If the bill did apply to her race, it would also set up the prospect of a three-way race for her seat which could make it easier for Republicans to win.
Rep. Joe Miklosi, D-Denver, a member of the House Judiciary Committee which will vote on the bill, said he thinks it will pass as long as it doesn’t apply to Curry’s race.
He said she faces an uphill battle to convince enough people to write her name on the ballot this fall. He said he’s never heard of a write-in candidate winning an election for state office.
“It’s the kiss of death,” he said.
Curry could have another chance to make the ballot though.
La Plata County Commissioner Joelle Riddle, another Democrat who switched to unaffiliated, is challenging Colorado’s requirements in federal court. A decision could come this spring and it’s possible a victory for Riddle could also mean Curry could get her name listed on the ballot.
