With less than a month to go before voting begins, Donald Trump‘s Republican rivals are once again rallying to his defense, this time after Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled to remove him from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause.
Just as they had following Trump’s successive indictments as he racked up 91 criminal charges, the GOP front-runner’s opponents cast the landmark decision — the first time in history the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate and one the former president has vowed to appeal — as inappropriate, a “stunt” and an “attack on democracy.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis charged the court’s ruling was a plot to ensure Trump wins the nomination because Democrats view him as the weakest Republican candidate.
The only requirement to vote in the Republican Primary is “I think I’d like to vote in the Republican Primary this year.”
https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/FAQs/primaryElectionsFAQ.html
If you are registered with a specific party, you may not vote in another party’s primary in the state of Colorado, even if you “think you’d like to.”
Ok. Let’s assume I am, in fact, currently registered as a Democrat. Am I never allowed to change that affiliation?
Oh, I can change that affiliation?
What are the requirements to change my party affiliation again? Is “I think I’d like to vote in the Republican Primary” a sufficient reason?
That’s fair. But it’s also true that the actual Republican petitioners in the case (five of the seven) are very long time Republicans who have been notable in party politics in the state.
Now go look at hard it is to change your registered party in Colorado. It takes about 5 minutes. And I think the only thing it really affects for most people is which primary they vote in. So while there’s one more step than “think you’d like to” it’s not by much.