On June 23, U.S. District Court Judge Marcia S. Krieger, a Bush Jr. appointee, upheld Colorado’s law that bars independent candidates (for office other than President) from being on the November ballot if they were a member of an qualified party at any time in the year before the filing deadline.  Here is the 25-page opinion.

This means that the two plaintiff-candidates, La Plata County Commissioner Joelle Riddle, and state legislator Kathleen Curry, cannot run for re-election as independent candidates this year unless they run as write-in candidates.

Colorado eased the ballot access restriction this year, but made the change effective next year.  Riddle changed her registration from “Democratic” to “independent” on August 21, 2009, and Curry changed her registration from “Democratic” to “independent” on December 28, 2009.  The new law, effective 2011, sets the prior affiliation period on January 1 of the election year, so if the new law were effective now, both candidates could be on the ballot this November as independent candidates.