Editor's note: This story was updated with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether or not Donald Trump could appear on the Colorado ballot.
2024 is a notable election year for many reasons. Every four years, the election for the next United States president garners the highest voter turnout.
But 2024 is important for historic reasons as incumbent President Joe Biden runs for the Democratic nomination and former President Donald Trump runs for another term as the Republican nominee.
Trump joins a short list of former presidents who have tried to regain control of the Oval Office after their first term. Grover Cleveland is the only former president who has ever come back after being defeated for reelection to win a second nonconsecutive term, according to the Pew Research Center. Three other former presidents have sought to regain their old offices on third-party tickets, including Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore and Theodore Roosevelt.
Coloradans will vote in a primary election for down-ballot races (every election other than the presidential) this summer and ballot measures come November. For the primary election, though, only potential presidential candidates will be on the ballot.
Politics
State ballots sent out Monday for the March presidential primary
While Feb. 12 was the final day for Democrat or Republican voters to change their affiliation for the March 5 primary, unaffiliated voters can decide on a party up until Election Day in November.
Monday, Feb 26: It's the final day for voters to mail in their ballots for the primary election. After that, voters can return their ballots to a 24-hour drop box.
Tuesday, March 5: Colorado will hold its primary election to decide the presidential candidates for each party. This day is commonly referred to as Super Tuesday.
The Republican candidates on the ballot for president are:
- Donald Trump
- Nikki Haley
- Ron DeSantis
- Chris Christie
- Vivek Ramaswamy
- Asa Hutchinson
- Ryan L Binkley
- Rachel Hannah "Mohawk" Swift
- Walter Iwachiw
DeSantis, Christie, Ramaswamy and Hutchinson have all dropped out of the race.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trump March 4 after the Colorado Supreme Court said he could be kicked off the state's primary ballot. All the votes for the former president that were cast before the decision was made will be counted.
Local
Supreme Court seems very skeptical of Colorado removing Trump from ballot
The Democratic candidates on the ballot for president are:
- Joe Biden
- Marianne Williamson
- Jason Michael Palmer
- Gabriel Cornejo
- Frankie Lozada
- Dean Phillips
- Stephen P Lyons
- Armando "Mando" Perez-Serrato
Williamson has dropped out of the race.
Whoever wins the most votes from each party during the primary election will be placed on the November general election ballot.
Registered Democrat or Republican voters may cast a ballot in the primary election for candidates of the party with which they are affiliated unless they met the Feb. 12 deadline to change their party affiliation.
Unaffiliated Coloradans can choose which political party they want to vote for this election cycle, but they can only choose one. If they return ballots for more than one political party, the ballots will be rejected and none of their votes will be counted.
Unaffiliated voters don't have to choose which major party they're going to vote for in advance, like registered Democrats or Republicans. Unaffiliated Colorado voters will get ballots in the mail from both the Democratic and Republican parties.
There are also eight minor parties in Colorado for which voters can request ballots. They include the American Constitution Party, Approval Voting Party, Colorado Center Party, Colorado Forward Party, Green Party of Colorado, Libertarian Party of Colorado, No Labels Colorado Party and Unity Party of Colorado.
One Denver7 viewer asked:
"I received my primary ballot in the mail yesterday and noticed a curious thing on each of the ballots. Can you answer my question. On the Republican ballot there is a list of all the candidates and at the very bottom is “Write-In”, I’ve never seen that before on a ballot. On the Democratic ballot there is their list of candidates, and at the very bottom is “Noncommitted delegate”, what does that mean?"
The Colorado Democratic Party submitted a request for a "Noncommitted Delegate" to appear on the 2024 Presidential Primary Ballot under Colorado statute. It provides "a place on the primary ballot for electors who have no presidential candidate preference to register a vote to send a noncommitted delegate to the political party’s national convention."
On the Republican ballot, you will see a "write-in" option because two Republicans: Rachel Hannah "Mohawk" Swift and Walter Wachiw filed write-in candidate affidavits with the Colorado Secretary of State's Office, certifying them as candidates.
Tuesday, June 25: Colorado will hold its primary election for other offices, including U.S. Congress, the state House of Representatives, state Senate and other city/countywide offices. Nine Republican candidates are vying for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District seat, including Congresswoman Lauren Boebert.
Politics
Lauren Boebert and other Republican candidates for Congress debate Thursday
Tuesday, Nov 5: It's general election day.
The November ballot will not be certified until Sept. 9, according to the Colorado Secretary of State's Office. You can see the status of all ballot measures in front of the Initiative Title Setting Review Board here.
The Initiative Title Setting Review Board, consisting of the Secretary of State, Attorney General and Director of the Office of Legislative Legal Services, or their designees, will meet to finalize the title for 11 proposed November ballot initiatives on Feb. 21 at 9 a.m.
