DENVER—A proposal that would shorten the ballot wait time for unaffiliated candidates has passed its first test at the Capitol.
Unaffiliated candidates now have be registered for 17 months before an election to be listed on the ballot. The official wait time for Republicans and Democrats is 12 months but parties can create their own deadlines.
Colorado’s only unaffiliated state lawmaker, Rep. Kathleen Curry, wants the deadline for all candidates moved to the first business day in January of an election year starting in 2012. Parties would still be able to make their own rules.
Curry switched to unaffiliated too late to be listed on this fall’s ballot and plans a write-in campaign. A pending federal lawsuit challenging the law could still give her a shot at the ballot.
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The measure is House Bill 1271
