In 2018, the people of Colorado passed Amendments Y and Z to end the practice of political gerrymandering. The Amendments applied to the process of establishing election districts for United States Congress and Colorado’s General Assembly representatives and senators. The only partisan offices elected by districts in Colorado that were not included in Amendments Y and Z were county commissioners.
To address political gerrymandering in the county commissioner redistricting process, the General Assembly of Colorado passed HB21-1047, codified as C.R.S. §§ 30-10-306–306.4 (“the Redistricting Statutes”), in 2021. The Redistricting Statutes outline the requirements for redistricting county commissioner seats. On March 1, 2023, the Board of County Commissioners of Weld County (“the Board”) passed a resolution changing the boundaries for the three County Commissioner Districts in Weld County in violation of the Redistricting Statutes. By splitting the district in three, the Board’s actions cracked and diluted the Latine vote concentrated in Greeley.
The League of Women Voters of Greeley along with the Latino Coalition of Weld County and two individual voters (collectively “the Voters”) filed a lawsuit. The Board admitted that it did not abide by the requirements of the Redistricting Statutes but argued that it was not required to because Weld County is a home-rule county. The District Court found that the Voters had a right to sue and that the Board violated state law by not abiding by the Redistricting Statutes. The Board appealed this decision.
On August 12, 2024, the ACLU of Colorado along with the National ACLU, filed an amicus brief in the Colorado Supreme Court in support of the Voters. Our amicus brief argues that the Voters had standing and a right to sue under the Redistricting Statutes. The brief also addressed the need for strong state protections of free and fair elections particularly in a time when the when the Supreme Court and other federal courts are in retreat on voting rights.
