“Caucus creates repeated opportunities for average ordinary people to take the first steps toward becoming political leaders.”

Information provided
by Dan Bubis

In the Colorado caucus system the process lasts for weeks. You have to make the commitment to be engaged for weeks, not minutes. In a primary you show up, you cast a ballot, you go home. The reason it lasts for weeks is that, unlike in a primary, the focus in the Colorado caucus is on discussion and thoughtfulness. After the caucus, delegates will move onto the County, State and National Assemblies. The only way you are ‘disenfranchised’ in this system is if you fail to participate.
Colorado instituted the caucus system in 1910. The caucus system was abolished in favor of presidential primaries in 1992, but restored in 2002 with the defeat of Amendment 29 and due to cost considerations. The fully restored Colorado Caucus was in 2004.

Caucus creates repeated opportunities for average ordinary people to take the first steps toward becoming political leaders.Colorado’s Democratic and Republican parties will hold precinct caucus meetings March 6th in advance of the June 26 Primary Election. Voters interested in caucusing must be affiliated with one of the major political parties by January 8th.
1. What is a precinct caucus?
Precinct caucuses are neighborhood-level meetings hosted by the Democratic and Republican Parties during even-numbered years in advance of a Primary Election. A precinct is the smallest subdivision of a county. Precinct caucuses are the first step for each political party to engage voters, select candidates for the Primary Election and decide on a party platform for the year. Locations vary, such as schools, community centers, churches and homes.
2. What happens at a precinct caucus?
At caucus, two sets of people are elected:
One set consists of Precinct Committee people, who will serve for two years as the Republican/Democrat representatives and workers in their precinct. These are arguably, next to candidates, the most important people in the party organization, its eyes and ears, its representatives who will have one-on-one contact with the voters, who will help take Party principles, issues and candidates to the people in their precincts and from the people up the ladder.
The second set of electees are Delegates–and an equal number of Alternates–who will attend the assemblies (also called “conventions” during presidential election years) where they will vote to determine which candidates will appear on the Primary ballot. These people are also obviously extremely important to the process! The number of Delegates/Alternates elected in each precinct will be announced at the caucus and depends on an allocation formula based on county bylaws.
Attendees also will choose delegates to their Party’s County, District and State Assemblies, where the delegates will nominate candidates to the ballot and approve the party’s platform. Other items may be addressed at caucuses, too, such as State-Party-requested straw polls for state-level and/or congressional-level candidates. The polls are informational only; they are non-binding. Caucus attendees may also wish to write and pass resolutions regarding various issues. Such resolutions are passed to the County Assembly, where they may be considered by that body. If passed, they are sent on up to the State Assembly for consideration.
3. Who can attend a precinct caucus?
Only voters who are affiliated with the Republican or Democratic Party may actively participate in a precinct caucus for their political party. (It is unknown if any of Colorado’s minor political parties will conduct a caucus or primary election.) January 8th is the deadline to affiliate and February 5th is the deadline to update your address if you have moved in order to participate in your precinct caucus.
4. What happens after the precinct caucuses?
The various assemblies/conventions are:

1. The County Assembly, where primary-ballot nominees to county- level positions (e.g., Sheriff, Clerk & Recorder, Commissioner, Assessor, Treasurer, Coroner and possibly others) will be selected.
2. The State House and State Senate District Assemblies, where the primary-ballot nominees for Senate and House of Representative candidates for the Colorado General Assembly (the State House) will be selected.
3. The State Assembly, where primary-ballot nominees to state-wide positions (e.g., Governor, Secretary of State, U.S. Senator, State Treasurer, State Attorney General, State Board of Education at Large, CU Regent at Large and possibly others) will be selected.
4. The Congressional District assemblies, where the primary-ballot nominees to the US House of Representatives, plus Congressional District Board of Education and CU Regent candidates will be selected.

As you can see, the Delegates/Alternates move from the grass-roots level of the party to a representative level. So: whomever you elect at caucus as Delegate(s)/Alternate(s) will be the person(s) who will vote in determining whether the candidate(s) you favor make it onto the Primary Ballot. It should be understood that these people are not bound by your preferences, but it behooves you to elect people whose judgment you trust and who, at caucus, state their favorability for your candidate. There can be more than one candidate for an office on the primary ballot, but only if a candidate receives at least 30% of the vote at a particular assembly.
5. How do candidates get on the ballot?
A candidate who receives 30 percent of the delegates’ vote at an assembly will appear on their political party’s Primary Election ballot. Candidates who receive between 10 and 29 percent of delegates’ vote may petition onto the ballot. Those with less than 10 percent are not permitted to petition.
Candidates who are unaffiliated or affiliated with minor parties must petition onto the November General Election ballot or become a write-in candidate.
6. How can unaffiliated voters participate in the process?
Unaffiliated voters may observe a precinct caucus, but may not participate.
However, unaffiliated voters will be eligible to cast a Primary Election ballot for any one participating political party. This is because Colorado voters approved Proposition 108 in 2016. Unaffiliated voters will receive both the Democratic and Republican Primary ballots in June, and may vote and return only one. If a voter returns both ballots, none will be counted.
As an alternative, unaffiliated voters may declare a “ballot preference” before the June 26th Primary Election at www.govotecolorado.com and receive only one ballot for their preferred party. This will conserve taxpayer dollars, because counties will not have to pay printing and postage costs to send two ballots.