Last week, the Colorado Legislature passed HB19-1278 which was originally sponsored by Sen. Stephen Fenberg, D-Boulder, and Rep. Susan Lontine, D-Denver. Section 19, 1-4-802 contains language that increases the number of petition signatures required by Independents and third party candidates in order for them to get on the ballots. This is rigging our election system! Now, that the Democrats are in control of the legislature and the governor’s office, they must believe that they can manipulate our election system. This a clear effort to thwart Independents and third party candidates from running for office.
Democrats at the state and national level did not win their 2018 elections by themselves. There would not have been a “Blue Wave” without the large wave of Independent voters. They have already forgotten the hand that feeds them! Are they so drunk with power that they are not thinking clearly?
Sen. Fenberg and Rep. Lontine did not respond to my phone calls and emails to change the language back to the original numbers. I find this behavior very unprofessional and condescending. This is the typical treatment that the Independent voter movement receives these days at all levels. The two major parties believe that they own the election process. They make all of the rules. They don’t want Independent and third party candidates getting in their way. The major two party system is a political mafia that calls all of the shots! Democracy does not live here!
This is what the Independent voter movement is attempting to change. We, in the Independent voter movement, are working hard all over America to make our election system more democratic and give the ownership of the electoral process back to the American people. This attitude on the part of the Colorado Democratic Party will intensify my efforts to put an Independent candidate in every county, state and national race in 2020!
Randy Fricke
New Castle
