Colorado’s Electoral showdown
by Korene Gallegos
The Metropolitan
Early registration started Oct. 18 and by Nov. 2 all the polling facilities
will have opened their doors. The battle for votes will come to an end,
but not until political candidates and organizations take one more swing
at young voters in Colorado.
In the 2004 election, six states are noted to be major swing states:
Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon and Colorado.
This is the first time in eight years Colorado has been named a swing
state, it has voted Republican in the last two elections. This year may
be different with a higher number of young voters registered and a proposed
amendment to change the Colorado electoral vote.
With Colorado being a swing state, candidates have made a point of visiting
multiple times while campaigning.
Sen. John Kerry spoke in Pueblo and Vice President Dick Cheney was in
Grand Junction on Oct. 23. President Bush came to Greeley on Oct. 25.
Bush is the first president to visit Greeley in more than 70 years.
College students have not stood idly by during the intensifying campaigning
of both parties. Political protest signs and campaign logos decorate Auraria
campus and several student debates have been held on campus this month.
With the war in Iraq and the national deficit at $6 trillion, promises
of tax cuts, reduced or altogether eliminated funding including higher
education, young voters are placed in the middle of the political battleground.
The New Voters Project of Colorado reported 71,339 people 18 to 24 years
old have registered to vote in Colorado. This number has far exceeded
their goal of registering more than 27,000 young people in Denver and
55,000 statewide.
According to New Voters Project spokesperson Ben Prochazka, one in five
young people in Colorado have registered to vote.
“No doubt this is the first time young people have been targeted
(in an election),” he said. “It was an achievement and evidence
that young people are responsive.”
Prochazka says the fight for young voter turnout is not over yet.
“We are going into phase two, following up on registered young
voters by going door-to-door, talking face-to-face and e-mailing,”
he said. “(We are) making sure they show up on Election Day and
vote.”
The Colorado New Voters Project is a non-partisan campaign to register
young voters and increase voter turnout on Election Day. Young voter turnout
showed a decline in the 2000 election with a 36 percent voting record.
The project in Colorado is sponsored by Colorado State Public Interest
Research Group, which for 30 years has focused on college students, mobilizing
citizens, promoting democracy, protecting consumers and preserving the
environment.
With recent news coverage of voter registration fraud in Denver, the
New Voters Project stated on a Web site news release that they stand by
their staff.
“Before hiring, all our staff undergoes a rigorous screening and
interview process. Canvassers are paid an hourly rate, and we do not pay
canvassers per registration form submitted.”
This year, the regulation process of counting votes is also focused on,
as well as voter turnout.
The 2000 election left the country debating on voting regulations. There
have been only two other instances in U.S. history where a presidential
candidate lost the popular vote but won the electoral vote.
This year, Colorado Amendment 36 proposes changes in the way Colorado
votes are counted toward the national electoral vote. If passed, Colorado
would split the state’s electoral votes instead of the ‘winner-takes-all’
approach. In the 2000 election, Colorado had eight electoral votes in
the Electoral College. Bush won Colorado by 51 to Gore’s 42 percent,
therefore Colorado awarded all eight electoral votes to Bush.
Under Amendment 36, Colorado would not have awarded all eight, but only
five, since Gore had three out of the eight. If this would have been the
case in 2000, Gore may have won the electoral vote as well as the popular
vote. If Amendment 36 passes on Nov. 2, it will go into effect for this
election. For the 2004 election, Colorado was awarded nine electoral votes.
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