Vote: Coloradoans want their candidates to focus on good government and democracy. But that could mean a lot of things – by CoLab Collaborator

The issue emerged as one of the top concerns in the Colorado Voter Voices survey

Many Coloradans are concerned about our democracy. And they want candidates to pay attention to that, too.

That is the message that emerges loud and clear from thousands of responses to the Voter Voices survey. Ark Valley Voice and dozens of other Colorado newsrooms are in circulation this election year with the help of the Colorado News Collaborative.

Read what the survey respondents as a whole had to say about the candidates.

“Democracy/good governance” was the most important issue for voters who identified themselves as moderate or liberal. For conservatives, it ranked lower, a distant third after immigration and the cost of living.

But this simple selection covers a wide range of concerns, from money in politics to threats to personal freedoms to politicians who care more about their careers than their voters.

Many voters expressed frustration that the current hard-line tone of politics is making it increasingly impossible for government – particularly the federal government – to address what they see as the country’s biggest problems. They said they wanted candidates to focus on the issues, not on attacks, and to show they are willing to work with the other side.

Deborah Shaffer of Cedaredge wrote that she wants the candidates to talk about “how they will lead our country back to a centrist democracy and return to a spirit of compromise and cooperation so that the important issues of sensible immigration, health care, fiscal responsibility and climate can be addressed.”

In an interview, Shaffer said she was discouraged, saying it had been a while since she felt like she was voting at the federal level for a candidate she liked rather than against one she feared.

“I’ll be honest and say if it were up to me, I wouldn’t vote for a single incumbent,” Shaffer said. “Not because I don’t believe there are good people. I just think it’s not working.”

Across the political spectrum, many respondents said they simply didn’t believe the people who represented them really cared about their issues. The disillusionment and frustration expressed by Coloradans reflects national trends; in a Pew Research poll last year, 85 percent of respondents said politicians didn’t care about the opinions of ordinary people, and 80 percent said they were frustrated or angry with government.

We want to hear from you! If you haven’t taken the Voter Voices survey yet, you can complete it here.

The Voter Voices poll also reflects fears among many voters – particularly those who identify as liberal – that political opposition has become a threat to democracy.

Melissa McInerney said she wants to put climate change, health care and the environment at the top of her list of priorities, but right now all of those issues are secondary to her fears about what Republican control of the federal government would mean.

“There are so many other issues that I really care about and want to see addressed, but they won’t mean anything if we don’t vote for the right party and the right people,” McInerney said.

Many respondents who identified themselves as conservative described good government as limited government and wrote that candidates should focus on what they would do to uphold the Constitution, particularly the First and Second Amendments to the Constitution.

“How they give people their freedoms back instead of taking them away,” is what Michael Ruff of Eaton wants to hear from anyone who wants his vote. “The candidates are there to serve the people of Colorado, not to pass ‘feel-good’ laws that usually have no effect but instead impose excessive burdens and penalties on citizens.”

Mike Orr of southwest Denver is pessimistic about the current political situation and hopes for big changes. He would like to see much stricter rules on money in politics and would like to see the country move toward ranked-choice voting.

“The idea that someone who would otherwise have no chance of running for office could have a chance, especially if that person might have slightly more moderate views or belong to a party other than Republican and Democrat, is huge to me,” Orr said.

Orr was one of nearly a dozen people in the poll who specifically addressed ranked choice voting (RCV), a process in which all candidates appear on the primary ballot regardless of party and voters rank them by preference. Colorado currently allows local governments to adopt RCV for their elections, and there is a push to ask voters to expand the practice to state elections. Currently, only two states – Alaska and Maine – use RCV statewide.

In addition to ranked-choice voting, respondents from across the political spectrum suggested that term limits would help improve federal politics. The state has already embraced this idea, with most state-level officials barred from serving more than eight years.

Because of their dissatisfaction, some voters are considering leaving the major parties this year, either for a third party or an independent candidate like Robert Kennedy Jr.

Valerie LeGore of Routt County feels that the major parties and their candidates do not respect the voters.

“We need to improve the quality of the conversations, rather than one candidate reading from cue cards and another calling people names,” LeGore said. “We really need to focus on the essentials and the facts.”

For LeGore, good government starts with strong voting policies. As a longtime election judge, she believes county officials are doing the best they can with the things they have. But she is wary of many of Colorado’s voting innovations, such as universal mail-in voting and automatic voter registration. She would like to see the state return to mostly in-person voting with strict ID requirements.

“We should apply the same standards as we do for flying and things like that,” LeGore said, “to make sure people are really who they say they are.”

Without these measures, she feels like there is an asterisk over the results of every election.

When it comes to confidence in the election, the Voter Voices poll reflects national trends. Only 11 percent of conservatives who took the survey said they were completely confident that elections across the country would be fair. In contrast, just over 50 percent of liberals and moderates said they had confidence in the national election.

Opinions on the electoral process in Colorado are more positive across the board. About 90 percent of liberals, 80 percent of moderates and 40 percent of conservatives said they were completely confident that the votes in their community were counted fairly.

While the poll is not a scientific survey, it does make clear that when voters demand that their candidates focus on democracy and good governance, they are talking about a wide range of views and concerns. But it also reveals a common thread: They are concerned that the country’s current political leaders are not up to the challenges of the present.

Shaffer, the Cedaredge voter who said if it were up to her she would not vote for either incumbent, said she is not a very emotional person, but when she thinks about the current political situation she is close to tears. At 74, she is most concerned about future generations.

“I just feel so bad for people who look at this and ask, ‘What is my life going to be like under these circumstances?'” she said. “I believe in humanity’s ability to ultimately do the right thing. I just feel like right now it looks more bleak than hopeful.”

By Megan Verlee, CPR News and Tina Griego, Colorado News Collaborative

Tina Griego is editor-in-chief of the Colorado News Collaborative (which Ark Valley Voice is a member) that leads the Voter Voices project. Megan Verlee is public affairs editor at Colorado Public Radio, the project’s primary partner.

Editor’s note: Democracy and good governance were also the most important theme for Ark Valley Voice Answers to the reader survey.