Voters in Colorado could decide on a ballot initiative to adopt top-four ranked-choice voting in Nov. 2024. Kent Thiry, the former CEO of DaVita, said he plans to file the ballot initiative, which would change state executive, state legislative, and congressional elections. The new electoral system would go into effect beginning in 2026.
The initiative proposes changes similar to those established in Alaska through voter approval of Ballot Measure 2 in 2020. Under the initiative, candidates would run in a single primary election, regardless of a candidate’s party affiliation. The four candidates that receive the most votes advance to the general election. At the general election, voters elect state and federal candidates using ranked-choice voting. For state executive, state legislative, and congressional elections, voters rank the four candidates that advanced from their top-four primaries. A candidate would need a simple majority of the vote (50%+1) to be declared the winner of an election. If no candidate wins a simple majority of the vote, the candidate with the fewest votes would be eliminated. People who voted for that candidate as their first choice would have their votes redistributed to their second choice. The tabulation process would continue as rounds until a candidate received more than 50% of the total vote.
Currently, in Colorado, primaries are conducted on a semi-closed basis, meaning that only registered party members and unaffiliated voters may participate in a party’s primary. Winners in Colorado’s primaries are determined via plurality vote, meaning that the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes cast wins the primary election.
