If you are in the GOP leadership of one of the nine states that have open primaries allowing unaffiliated voters to participate then you too are suffering under the actions of Colorado’s own, Mr. Kent Thiry. 

Here in Colorado, our woes began in 2016 when Mr. Thiry’s and his friends financed propositions 107 and 108. Proposition 108, opened the primaries to unaffiliated voters. Under 108 each of the two major parties could opt-out of the open primary; but to do so, three fourths (75%) of their entire state central committee members must vote to opt-out. By any standard this requirement of seventy five percent (75%) is tyrannical and a severe threshold to cross. We, the Republican Party of Colorado hold the opinion that open primaries are unconstitutional and violate our first and fourteenth amendment’s and have filed suit in the Federal Court declaring so.

Colorado is a caucus state, our rank-and-file members votes are being diluted by allowing unaffiliated voters into Republican primaries. Propositions 107 and 108 were unfortunately passed and now are state law. Their passage only served to increase apathy among party members and further reduce their participation at caucuses. The coup de grace for the caucus happened when proposition 107 kicked in allowing the governor to place the presidential primary before the caucus.

The adverse effect of these propositions later became apparent. In 2016, each major party had approximately 1.2 million respectively, which made up two-thirds of the voters; the remaining third was the unaffiliated voters. With that said, one third of registered voters chose not to vote on Proposition 108, the actual numbers reported by Ballotpedia were; 1,398,577 for and 1,227,117 against. In my opinion, these numbers do not represent a mandate for 108 when you consider a third did not vote. Left unchecked the Republican Party suffered under Mr. Thiry’s tyranny of the minority; our membership now stands at approximately 900K.

If our story sounds familiar to you then please reach out to us. We need your assistance in funding this effort. If we prevail in our court case, then you too win. One small committee in a single state cannot fight this alone. Mr. Thiry is a multi-millionaire with very rich and powerful friends. We must form an alliance with other state parties who find themselves in a similar situation at the earliest possible time as our court date is in January/February 2025. Regardless of who prevails, the loser will appeal until it reaches the SCOTUS.

We survived the latest scheme of Mr. Thiry and his friends which was; Rank Choice Voting. He and his friends launched a multi-state attack with RCV, which failed, they most certainly have something else in store for us and that is why it is highly important that we form an alliance with other state parties to fight the open primary system already established here in Colorado.

Respectfully,

Ben Nicholas
CD8 Representative to the State Executive Committee
Member of Legal Affairs and Lawsuit Committee

P.S. Again, a fund has been set up with the Claremont Institute for Constitutional Jurisprudence, which is a 501(c)(3) organization and these contributions can be tax-deductible when itemizing your tax deductions. Again, please specify that this is for the Colorado open primary lawsuit. Go to https://litigation.claremont.org.

Or, alternatively, you can contribute to the Party directly at https://secure.anedot.com/colorado-republican-party/legal-fund