Three Colorado legislators have introduced HB 1067, which says that if a qualified major party has no contested primaries, then no primary ballots should be printed up for that party.

The reason for this bill is that the Constitution Party probably won’t have any contested primaries in 2014, and if the bill passes, election administrators will save money. The Constitution Party polled over 10% of the vote for Governor in 2010, which meant that it was a major party for 2012 and 2014 and was expected to nominate all its candidates by primary. Smaller qualified parties in Colorado typically nominate by convention, although even qualified minor parties do have primaries when two candidates for the same office show substantial support at the nominating convention.

The bill sponsors are Representatives Carole Murray (R-Castle Rock) and Jeanne Labuda (D-Denver), and Senator Ellen Roberts (R-Durango). As far as is known, the Constitution Party supports this bill.