QUESTION: WHERE DID THE OPT-OUT ISSUE COME FROM?

ANSWER: 2016 BALLOT INITIATIVES 107 AND 108

Propositions 107 and 108

https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_Presidential_Primary_Election,_Proposition_107_(2016)

CISS - https://ballotpedia.org/Initiated_state_statute

Proposition 107 –
https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_Presidential_Primary_Election,_Proposition_107_(2016)
Information including Election Results, Overview, Campaign Finance, Text, Summary, Fiscal Impact, Support, Opposition, Media Editorials, and more.

Proposition 108 –
https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_Unaffiliated_Elector,_Proposition_108_(2016)
Information including Election Results, Overview, Campaign Finance, Text, Summary, Fiscal Impact, Support, Opposition, Media Editorials, and more.

Elections – https://ballotpedia.org/Elections_and_campaigns_on_the_ballot

Approved - https://ballotpedia.org/Approved

“Open Primary” – https://ballotpedia.org/Open_primary
A voter “…does not have to formally affiliate with a political party in order to vote in its primary…”

Text of Prop. 107:
https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Initiatives/titleBoard/filings/2015-2016/140Final.pdf  

Ballot Wording for 107: 
“Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes recreating a presidential primary election to be held before the end of March in each presidential election year in which unaffiliated electors may vote without declaring an affiliation with a political party?”

Text of Prop. 108:
https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Initiatives/titleBoard/filings/2015-2016/98Final.pdf

Ballot Wording for 108:
“Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning the process of selecting candidates representing major political parties on a general election ballot, and, in connection therewith, allowing an unaffiliated elector to vote in the primary election of a major political party without declaring an affiliation with that political party and permitting a political party in specific circumstances to select all of its candidates by assembly or convention instead of by primary election?”

The GOP's Opt-Out Vote will be held this year on September 18^th, 2021.

https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Initiatives/titleBoard/filings/2015-2016/98Final.pdf

5. In Colorado Revised Statutes, add 1-4-702 as follows:
1-4-702. Nominations of candidates for general election by convention. (1) NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF LAW, A POLITICAL PARTY MAY CHOOSE TO CHANGE FROM THE NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES BY PRIMARY ELECTION TO THE NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES BY ASSEMBLY OR CONVENTION FOR ALL OFFICES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, UNITED STATES SENATOR, REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS, ALL ELECTIVE STATE, DISTRICT, AND COUNTY OFFICERS, AND MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY IF AT LEAST THREE-FOURTHS OF THE TOTAL MEMBERSHIP OF THE PARTY'S STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE VOTES TO USE THE ASSEMBLY OR CONVENTION NOMINATION PROCESS; EXCEPT THAT NOMINATIONS BY MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES FOR CANDIDATES FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR SHALL BE MADE BY THE PARTY'S CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR PURSUANT TO SECTION 1-4-502 (3). SUCH VOTE OF THE PARTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE SHALL OCCUR NO LATER THAN OCTOBER 1 OF THE YEAR PRECEDING THE YEAR IN WHICH AN ASSEMBLY OR CONVENTION NOMINATING PROCESS IS TO BE USED.
(2) A POLITICAL PARTY NOMINATING CANDIDATES BY PARTY ASSEMBLY OR CONVENTION SHALL NOMINATE THE CANDIDATES OF THE PARTY AND MAKE SUCH NOMINATIONS PUBLIC NOT LATER THAN SEVENTY-FIVE DAYS BEFORE THE GENERAL ELECTION.
(3) WHICHEVER METHOD OF CANDIDATE SELECTION IS CHOSEN BY A MAJOR POLITICAL PARTY AS BETWEEN PRIMARY ELECTION, ASSEMBLY OR CONVENTION, ALL OF THE
CANDIDATES FOR THAT PARTY AT ANY LEVEL OF OFFICE IN THAT ELECTION YEAR MUST BE SELECTED BY SUCH METHOD, EXCEPT THAT THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS PROVISION SHALL NOT APPLY TO A PRIMARY FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STA TES IF SUCH AN ELECTION IS HELD.