Editing Colorado (section)

===State government===
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|-
! colspan="6" | State Executive Officers
|-
!| Office
! Name
! Party
|-
| Governor
| [[Jared Polis]]
| {{party shading/Democratic}} | Democratic
|-
| Lieutenant Governor
| [[Dianne Primavera]]
| {{party shading/Democratic}} | Democratic
|-
| Secretary of State
| [[Jena Griswold]]
| {{party shading/Democratic}} | Democratic
|-
| Attorney General
| [[Phil Weiser]]
| {{party shading/Democratic}} | Democratic
|-
| Treasurer
| [[Dave Young (Colorado politician)|Dave Young]]
| {{party shading/Democratic}} | Democratic
|}
Like the federal government and all other U.S. states, Colorado's [[Constitution of the State of Colorado|state constitution]] provides for three branches of government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branches.

The [[Governor of Colorado]] heads the state's executive branch. The current governor is [[Jared Polis]], a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]. Colorado's other statewide elected executive officers are the [[Lieutenant Governor of Colorado]] (elected on a [[Ticket (election)|ticket]] with the Governor), [[Secretary of State of Colorado]], [[Colorado State Treasurer]], and [[Attorney General of Colorado]], all of whom serve four-year terms.

The seven-member [[Colorado Supreme Court]] is the state's highest court. The [[Colorado Court of Appeals]], with 22 judges, sits in divisions of three judges each. Colorado is divided into 23 judicial districts, each of which has a district court and a county court with limited jurisdiction. The state also has [[Colorado water courts|specialized water courts]], which sit in seven distinct divisions around the state and which decide matters relating to water rights and the use and administration of water.

The state legislative body is the [[Colorado General Assembly]], which is made up of two houses – the [[Colorado House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and the [[Colorado Senate|Senate]]. The House has 65 members and the Senate has 35. {{as of|2023}}, the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] holds a 23 to 12 majority in the Senate and a 46 to 19 majority in the House.

Most Coloradans are native to other states (nearly 60% according to the 2000 census),<ref>{{cite web
 | title =State of Residence in 2000 by State of Birth
 | publisher =[[United States Census Bureau|US Census Bureau]]
 | access-date =October 10, 2009
| url =https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t38/index.html}}</ref> and this is illustrated by the fact that the state did not have a native-born governor from 1975 (when [[John David Vanderhoof]] left office) until 2007, when [[Bill Ritter]] took office; [[2006 Colorado gubernatorial election|his election]] the previous year marked the first electoral victory for a native-born Coloradan in a gubernatorial race since 1958 (Vanderhoof had ascended from the Lieutenant Governorship when [[John Arthur Love]] was given a position in [[Richard Nixon]]'s administration in 1973).

Tax is collected by the [[Colorado Department of Revenue]].

====Politics====
{{Main|Politics of Colorado}}

{{See also|Political party strength in Colorado|United States presidential elections in Colorado}}
{| class="wikitable floatright"
! colspan="6" | Colorado registered voters {{as of|2025|January|1|lc=y|df=US}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/VoterRegNumbers/2025/JanuaryStatistics20250203.xlsx |title= January 2025 Total Registered Voters By Party Affiliation |access-date=February 17, 2025 |website=Colorado Secretary of State}}</ref>
|-
! colspan="2" | Party
! Number of voters
! Percentage
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent Party (United States)}}
| [[Independent politician (United States)|Unaffiliated]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 1,968,318
| style="text-align:center;" | 48.59%
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}}
| [[Colorado Democratic Party|Democratic]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 1,045,526
| style="text-align:center;" | 25.81%
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}}
| [[Colorado Republican Party|Republican]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 943,267
| style="text-align:center;" | 23.28%
|-
| {{party color cell|Libertarian Party (United States)}}
| [[Libertarian Party of Colorado|Libertarian]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 37,119
| style="text-align:center;" |0.92%
|-
| {{party color cell|Constitution Party (United States)}}
| [[American Constitution Party (Colorado)|American Constitution]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 11,605
| style="text-align:center;" | 0.29%
|-
| {{party color cell|Green Party (United States)}}
| [[Green Party of Colorado|Green]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 8,639
| style="text-align:center;" | 0.21%
|-
| {{party color cell|Approval Voting Party}}
| [[Approval Voting Party|Approval Voting]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 4,990
| style="text-align:center;" | 0.12%
|-
| {{party color cell|Unity Party of America}}
| [[Unity Party of America|Unity]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 3,101
| style="text-align:center;" | 0.08%
|-
| {{party color cell|No Labels}}
| [[No Labels]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 24,665
| style="text-align:center;" | 0.61%
|-
| {{party color cell|Colorado Center Party}}
| [[Colorado Center Party|Center]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 3,539
| style="text-align:center;" | 0.09%
|-
! colspan="2" | Total
! style="text-align:center;" | 4,051,074
! style="text-align:center;" | 100.00%
|}

Colorado was once considered a [[swing state]], but has become a relatively safe [[Red states and blue states|blue state]] in both state and federal elections since the late 2010s. In presidential elections, it had not been won until [[2020 United States presidential election in Colorado|2020]] by double digits since [[1984 United States presidential election in Colorado|1984]] and has backed the winning candidate in 9 of the last 11 elections. Coloradans have elected 17 [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] and 12 [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] to the governorship in the last 100 years.

In presidential politics, Colorado was considered a reliably Republican state during the post-World War II era, voting for the Democratic candidate only in 1948, 1964, and 1992. However, it became a competitive swing state in the 1990s. Since the mid-2000s, it has swung heavily to the Democrats, voting for [[Barack Obama]] in 2008 and 2012, [[Hillary Clinton]] in 2016, [[Joe Biden]] in 2020, and [[Kamala Harris]] in 2024.

Colorado politics exhibits a contrast between conservative cities such as Colorado Springs and Grand Junction, and liberal cities such as Boulder and Denver. Democrats are strongest in [[Denver Metropolitan Area|metropolitan Denver]], the college towns of [[Fort Collins, Colorado|Fort Collins]] and [[Boulder, Colorado|Boulder]], southern Colorado (including Pueblo), and several western ski resort counties. The Republicans are strongest in the Eastern Plains, Colorado Springs, Greeley, and far Western Colorado near Grand Junction.

Colorado is represented by two members of the [[United States Senate]]:
* [[Classes of United States Senators#Class 2|Class 2]], [[John Hickenlooper]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]), since 2021
* [[Classes of United States Senators#Class 3|Class 3]], [[Michael Bennet]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]), since 2009

Colorado is represented by eight members of the [[United States House of Representatives]]:
* [[Colorado's 1st congressional district|1st district]]: [[Diana DeGette]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]), since 1997
* [[Colorado's 2nd congressional district|2nd district]]: [[Joe Neguse]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]), since 2019
* [[Colorado's 3rd congressional district|3rd district]]: [[Jeff Hurd (politician)|Jeff Hurd]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]), since 2025
* [[Colorado's 4th congressional district|4th district]]: [[Lauren Boebert]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]), since 2021
* [[Colorado's 5th congressional district|5th district]]: [[Jeff Crank]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]), since 2025
* [[Colorado's 6th congressional district|6th district]]: [[Jason Crow]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]), since 2019
* [[Colorado's 7th congressional district|7th district]]: [[Brittany Pettersen]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]), since 2023
* [[Colorado's 8th congressional district|8th district]]: [[Gabe Evans]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]), since 2025

In a 2020 study, Colorado was ranked as the seventh easiest state for citizens to vote in.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=J. Pomante II |first1=Michael |last2=Li |first2=Quan |title=Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020 |journal=Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy |date=15 Dec 2020 |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=503–509 |doi=10.1089/elj.2020.0666 |s2cid=225139517 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

====Significant initiatives and legislation enacted in Colorado====
Colorado was the first state in the union to enact, by voter referendum, [[1893 Colorado women's suffrage referendum|a law extending]] [[suffrage]] to women. That initiative was approved by the state's voters on November 7, 1893.<ref>{{cite news|date=August 19, 1893|title=Notice of General Election|volume=4|agency=Silverton Standard|issue=41|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=TSS18930819.2.61&srpos=1&dliv=none&e=19-08-1893-19-08-1893--en-20-TSS-1--txt-txIN-election-------0-|access-date=November 28, 2020}}</ref>

On the November 8, 1932, ballot, Colorado approved the [[Repeal of Prohibition|repeal of alcohol prohibition]] more than a year before the [[Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution]] was ratified.

Colorado has banned, via C.R.S. section 12-6-302, the sale of motor vehicles on Sunday since at least 1953.<ref>{{cite web |title=Colorado Revised Statutes 2017 |url=https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2017-title-12.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2017-title-12.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |website=Colorado General Assembly |publisher=State of Colorado |access-date=November 30, 2020}}</ref>

In 1972, Colorado voters rejected a [[1972 Denver Winter Olympics referendum|referendum proposal]] to fund the [[1976 Winter Olympics]], which had been scheduled to be held in the state. Denver had been chosen by the [[International Olympic Committee]] as the host city on May 12, 1970.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/millennium/1012stone.shtml |title=Colorado only state ever to turn down Olympics |date=October 12, 1999 |last=Sanko |first=John |work=[[Rocky Mountain News]] |access-date=November 28, 2020 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601181029/http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/millennium/1012stone.shtml |archive-date=June 1, 2009 }}</ref>

In 1992, by a margin of 53 to 47 percent, Colorado voters approved an amendment to the state constitution (Amendment 2) that would have prevented any city, town, or county in the state from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to recognize homosexuals or bisexuals as a [[protected class]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1986&context=bclr | title =Colorado's Amendment 2 and Homosexuals' Right to Equal Protection of the Law |last1= Zamansky |first1= Stephen |journal= [[Boston College Law Review]] |volume= 35 |issue= 1 |pages= 221–258 |date= December 1993}}</ref> In 1996, in a 6–3 ruling in ''[[Romer v. Evans]]'', the U.S. Supreme Court found that preventing protected status based upon homosexuality or [[bisexuality]] did not satisfy the [[Equal Protection Clause]].<ref name="romervevans">{{ussc|name=Romer v. Evans|volume=517|page=620|pin=|year=1996 }}.</ref>

In 2006, voters passed [[2006 Colorado Amendment 43|Amendment 43]], which banned [[same-sex marriage in Colorado]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Simpson |first1=Kevin |title=Colorado Amendment 43: Gay marriage banned; domestic partnerships also defeated |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2006/11/08/colorado-amendment-43-gay-marriage-banned-domestic-partnerships-also-defeated/ |access-date=November 28, 2020 |agency=The Denver Post|location=[[Denver]]|date=November 8, 2006 }}</ref> That initiative was nullified by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]]'s 2015 decision in ''[[Obergefell v. Hodges]]''. In 2024, Colorado residents voted to establish an explicit right to [[abortion in Colorado]]'s state constitution<ref>{{cite news |last=Grimes |first=Thelma |date=September 13, 2024 |title=Amendment 79 seeks to enshrine abortion rights in Colorado's Constitution |url=https://www.coloradopolitics.com/elections/2024/colorado-amendment-79-abortion-rights/article_e7931948-7062-11ef-8703-3bf964d68882.html |access-date=September 21, 2024 |work=Colorado Politics}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Jennifer |date=2024-11-06 |title=Amendment 79 passes: Colorado will protect abortion in state constitution, allow public spending on procedure |url=https://coloradosun.com/2024/11/05/colorado-amendment-79-results/ |access-date=2024-11-06 |website=The Colorado Sun |language=en-US}}</ref> and to repeal Amendment 43's defunct marriage ban.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Colorado voters repeal state Constitution's 2006 same-sex marriage ban |url=https://kiowacountypress.net/content/colorado-voters-repeal-state-constitutions-2006-same-sex-marriage-ban |access-date=2024-11-06 |website=Kiowa County Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Woodruff |first=Chase |date=2024-11-06 |title=Colorado voters repeal state Constitution's 2006 same-sex marriage ban • Colorado Newsline |url=https://coloradonewsline.com/2024/11/05/colorado-voters-repeal-state-constitutions-2006-same-sex-marriage-ban/ |access-date=2024-11-06 |website=Colorado Newsline |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2012, voters amended the state constitution protecting the "personal use" of marijuana for adults, establishing a framework to regulate [[Cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] like [[Alcoholic beverage|alcohol]]. The first recreational marijuana shops in Colorado, and by extension the United States, opened their doors on January 1, 2014.<ref name="Healy" />

On 30 October 2019, Colorado became the first state to accept digital ID via its myColorado app.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://appitventures.com/success-stories/mycolorado |title=How we built the State of Colorado, myColorado™ app. |publisher=appitventures.com |access-date=May 13, 2024}}</ref> The state-issued digital identifications will be considered valid when Real ID enforcement begins in 2025, in line with the [[Real ID Act|Real ID Act of 2005]]. By November 2022 The Colorado Governor's Office of Information Technology announced that the myColorado app had over 1 million users.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://oit.colorado.gov/press-release/states-mycolorado-app-celebrates-1-million-users |title=State's myColorado App Celebrates 1 Million Users |publisher=colorado.gov |access-date=November 29, 2022}}</ref>

On December 19, 2023, the [[Colorado Supreme Court]] ruled that [[Donald Trump]] was disqualified from the [[2024 United States presidential election]] in part due to his alleged incitement of the [[January 6 United States Capitol attack]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Astor |first1=Maggie |title=Trump Is Disqualified From 2024 Ballot, Colorado Court Says in Explosive Ruling |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/us/politics/trump-colorado-ballot-14th-amendment.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HU0.XfYS.AN8fM_SETK68&hpgrp=k-abar&smid=tw-share |work=New York Times |date=19 December 2023 |access-date=20 December 2023}}</ref> On March 4, 2024, the [[United States Supreme Court]] [[Trump v. Anderson|overruled]] the Colorado decision.<ref>{{ussc|601|100|2024|docket=23-719}}</ref>