The law passed by voters requires the presidential primary be held on one of the first three Tuesdays in March, and it would be nigh-on impossible to schedule it later than the first Tuesday and still meet tight statuary deadlines for holding county and state assemblies and printing mail ballots ahead of next year's June 25 primary election for other partisan offices.
To be sure, Polis didn't have much, if any, leeway. "Coloradans are very engaged in our democracy and deserve to have our voices heard in determining the presidential nominees of each party," Polis said, adding that he hopes Colorado's prime spot on the presidential calendar will encourage candidates to "speak to issues that are important to Colorado." Caucuses returned in 2004, purportedly as a cost-cutting measure - state and county taxpayers foot the bill for elections, but political parties shell out the dough to administer caucuses - before state voters resurrected the primary ahead of the 2020 election by approving a 2016 ballot measure. Since the early 1970s, when the modern presidential nominating process took hold, Colorado has mostly held caucuses but switched to presidential primaries for a few cycles beginning in 1992. If Colorado's primary doesn't get lost in the shuffle - a possibility with electoral giants California and Texas casting ballots on the same day - voters could be treated to splashy visits and intense, on-the-ground campaigning from a slew of presidential contenders, like happened three years ago when the state conducted its first primary in 20 years after a stretch of relying on precinct caucuses to kick off national delegate selection.
Jared Polis joined with election and leading partisan officials to declare that Colorado's 2024 presidential primary will be held on March 5, along with contests scheduled in at least 14 other states and one territory - accounting for more than one-third of the delegates headed for next summer's Democratic and Republican national conventions. The state's spotty track record backing nominees didn't appear to be on anyone's minds this week when Gov.
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