Unaffiliated voters: This one's for U

DENVER, March 23, 2018 -- Don't spoil it.

That's the message Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams will deliver to unaffiliated voters in a statewide campaign that launches one week from today in Grand Junction, and the following week in Colorado Springs and Denver.

Coloradans in 2016 approved a measure that allows unaffiliated voters to automatically participate in primary elections and without having to declare affiliation with either the Democratic or Republican parties. Unaffiliated voters can participate in only one party's primary. If voters know which ballot they'd rather receive they can go to www.GoVoteColorado.com and check a preference, otherwise they will receive both the Democratic and the Republican ballots in the mail.

That's where the "Don't spoil it" comes in.

"If a voter returns both the Republican and Democratic ballots and marks up races in each one, neither ballot will count. That's the law," Williams said. "Our goal with this campaign is to let unaffiliated voters know they can participate in the primary election, that they can state a preference for a ballot and they should only mark one ballot if they get two."

The event in Grand Junction will be held outside the Double Tree Hotel where Club 20, an influential Western Slope organization, is holding its spring conference.

The legislature authorized Williams to launch a campaign to educate unaffiliated voters amid concerns from county clerks, party officials and others that unaffiliated voters as well as Democrats and Republicans would be confused. Already, Democrats and Republicans are asking how Proposition 108 impacts them for the primary -- it doesn't.

The Secretary of State's office contracted with Forté Advertising to target active unaffiliated voters with a mostly digital "UChoose" campaign, although some voters will receive mailers. (See attachment.)

The campaign has a web page, Facebook page, a Twitter account and its own hashtag, #UChooseCO.

Details on the events in Colorado Springs and Denver on Tuesday April 3 will be announced later. Here is the information about the Grand Junction event:

WHO: Secretary of State Wayne Williams, Mesa County Clerk Sheila Reiner, Delta County Clerk Terri Stephenson and Montrose County Clerk Tressa Guynes,elected officials from the area, and the Rev. Bob Cook, an unaffiliated voter and well known member of the community

WHAT: Campaign kickoff to educate unaffiliated voters about Proposition 108, which lets them automatically participate in the primary election

WHERE: Double Tree Hotel, 743 Horizon Drive, Grand Junction

WHEN: 10:30 a.m. Friday March 30

WHY: So an unaffiliated voter's ballot counts

U Choose campaign (PDF)