A bill awaiting Gov. Jared Polis' signature could have big impacts on how Coloradans vote in future elections, but Polis is facing pressure to veto it.
A last-minute amendment to the broad bipartisan election bill would require significant testing of ranked choice voting at the county level before the system could be adopted statewide. County clerks worked on the amendment, saying they're unprepared for the voting system overhaul.
The Colorado Sun Reporter Jesse Paul joined KUNC's Michael Lyle, Jr.
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"The governor is facing a lot of pressure to veto the bill from who's actually behind these ballot measures," said Paul. "And then the county clerks are on the other side saying, 'Hey, we gotta sign this bill.' And it's become the talk of the legislature here as the governor races toward his Friday deadline to sign or veto bills that were passed during the session this year."
Thiry is also the leader of Colorado Voters First, a group pushing for the elections system changes. Paul said advocates of ranked choice voting see the amendment to the bill as a major obstacle.
"They think that ranked choice voting is a way to moderate our politics in Colorado and across the country," said Paul. "And they think that it's just a better democratic system. So they see this amendment as basically being a total affront to what they're trying to do here."
is currently used in statewide municipal elections. Paul said he believes this method could change for general elections going forward.
"There's a few places in Colorado, but it's not widely adopted," said Paul. " It remains to be seen what's going to happen if (Polis) signs this bill."
Paul added that Colorado Voters First would still have to collect about 125,000 voter signatures by Aug. 5 in order to get a measure on the ballot in November.
