Colorado will not vote for a Republican candidate for President at its 2016 caucus after party leaders approved a little-noticed shift that may diminish the state's clout.
The GOP Executive Committee has voted to cancel the traditional Presidential preference poll after the National Party changed its rules to require a state's delegates to support the candidate that wins the caucus vote.
The move makes Colorado the only state so far to forfeit a role in the early nomination process, according to political experts, but other caucus states are still considering how to adapt to the new rule.
Republicans still will hold precinct caucus meetings in 2016 to begin the process of selecting Delegates for the National Convention, but the 37 delegates are not pledged to any specific candidate.
For Republicans, no declared winner means the Caucus will lack much of its hype. The Presidential campaigns still may try to win delegate slots for their supporters, but experts say the move makes it less likely that candidates will visit Colorado to court voters.
State Republican Party Chairman Steve House said the party's 24-member Executive Committee made the unanimous decision, but six members were absent. The move, he said, would give Colorado delegates the freedom to support any candidate eligible at the Cleveland Convention in July. Republican National Committee officials confirmed that the change complies with party rules. "If we do a binding presidential preference poll, we would then pledge our delegates ... and the candidates we bind them to may not be in the race by the time we get to the convention," House said.
If there's the potential for a Contested Convention in any way, the unaffiliated delegates become extremely important," said Joy Hoffman, the Arapahoe County GOP chairwoman who attended the party meeting. "If there is someone who becomes a front-runner, ... then nobody's important. So I think the view became that if we were not bound, it's not the worse thing that could happen."
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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