YOUR AD HERE »

Independent voters can make a difference

Thanks to Glenwood Springs Post Independent, The Aspen Times, Steamboat Pilot, Vail Daily, Durango Herald and the other Swift-owned newspapers, as well as the Colorado Sun, in the 3rd Congressional District for their series of articles on how independent voters view the status of Rep. Lauren Boebert. These articles provide a bird’s eye view of independent voters in the 3rd Congressional District.

According to the June 1 article, 84,384 active voters did not cast a vote in this 2020 election or in this race. It also reported that 133,599 voters total including inactive voters did not vote in this election or this race. Nationally, there are estimates that over 80 million voters did not vote in the general election of 2020.

What do these numbers say about the two major parties? The answer is that Americans are forced to vote for candidates from the party voter prison of the Democrats and Republicans. The two major parties control America’ election system. Look at Congress today. The Democrats and Republicans are doing little or nothing to help the American people. There is no $15 an hour minimum wage, no Medicare-for- All, no paid leave, and the list goes on. The political gridlock in Washington, D. C., is permanent. We need to change this status quo.



How do we change the status quo? We need independents to run for office! Right now, thousands of American voters are leaving the Democratic and Republican parties. By 2022, both in Colorado and nationally, registered independents could grow to 50 percent. Nationally, registered independents hit 50 percent in January. With the growing number of registered independents, it would be interesting to see how independent candidates would compete in the 3rd Congressional District as well as the rest of Colorado. Perhaps my proposal for an Independent Voter Caucus in 2022 would give us a clue.

Randy Fricke




Co-founder, Western Colorado Independent Voters; co-chair, National Election Reform Committee

New Castle