DENVER – Colorado’s Republican party has voted down an attempt by some of its members to close the 2018 primary to unaffiliated voters.
Saturday’s vote comes after Colorado voters last year approved changes that allowed the state’s 1.4 million unaffiliated voters to cast ballots in either the Democratic or Republican primary.
Republican spokesman Daniel Cole said 67 percent of the party’s central committee voted to stick with the primary system.
Some Republicans activists wanted only party members to be able to participate in candidate selections.
But most party leaders said barring unaffiliated voters would hurt their chances in the general election because those voters would gravitate toward Democrats.
Unaffiliated voters make up the bulk of voters in Colorado. The state’s two major parties have about 1 million voters each.
