The Colorado Secretary of State’s legal counsel recently determined that the Reform, Gun Owners’ Rights, and Pro Life Parties, are no longer qualified parties in that state.

None of the three parties has as many as 1,000 registrants, and none of them polled as much as 1% for a statewide race in either of the last two elections. The Reform Party did have a strong nominee for one U.S. House race last year, but that isn’t a statewide race.

The Gun Owners’ Rights Party, and the Pro Life Party, became qualified in 2004, when they each submitted 10,000 valid signatures on a petition. However, neither of them ever had any candidates for any public office whatsoever. The two parties were formed by a wealthy Democratic Party activist, who had the notion that if he qualified those parties, he would later find candidates and the presence of those candidates on the ballot would injure Republican nominees. However, he appears to have thought better of the idea later, and they were completely dormant during their lifetime.

The Colorado voter registration form will be reprinted next month to delete those three parties. Remaining qualified in Colorado are the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties (which nominate by convention for the most part) and the Republican and Democratic Parties.