From: Rep. Patrick Neville <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.;
Sent: Friday, September 10, 2021 7:59 AM
Subject: don't do it

Peg,

Would you take advice from your enemy? Of course not.

Conversely, if your opponent does NOT want you to do something, you should sit up and take notice.

During this past legislative session, radical Democrats passed several election-related bills meant to further tip the scales in their favor. Given our minority status, legislative Republicans could do little to stop it.

However, not content with surrendering, a small group of Republican grassroots legislators worked hard to pass meaningful reforms to our election code through the amendment process.

If we couldn’t stop these bills, perhaps we could marginally improve the situation and take what we could get even though we would ultimately vote “no” and oppose the Democrat’s terrible legislation.

The most important reform we sought was to close the primary off from unaffiliated voters and ensure that only registered Republican voters could choose Republican nominees.

History has shown that open primaries are devastating to Colorado Republicans.

Since the adoption of Proposition 108 we haven’t won a single statewide election. If the status quo remains, we will continue to lose elections while seeing ever-decreasing registration numbers among Republicans.

As a result, Colorado House Republicans entered into legislative negotiations with Democrats. Initially, Democrats seemed open to accepting our proposal. At first glance, they figured it would be helpful for them if Republicans closed their primaries.

However, after further consideration by their political consultants and campaign experts, they decided against it.

They gave us two main objections, and both centered on the fear that their electoral success would be harmed come November 2022.

First, they claimed that by only having Republicans opt-out of the open primary, the data they would normally collect would be skewed and negatively impact the predictive models they use to help them turn out voters for their party.

You see, they need to know which unaffiliated voters willfully chose to cast a Democrat primary ballot in order to have good data. Under the opt-out proposal, they will have a more challenging time knowing which unaffiliated voter is left-wing and, in turn, likely to vote for their nominee in the general election.

Second, Democrats feared that center-right unaffiliated voters would flood their primaries and in turn influence the selection of their nominees. They wanted to avoid costly primaries and prevent center-right unaffiliated voters from picking more moderate candidates.

Democrats fear the prospect of Republicans leaving the open primary because it would create battles in their party between their moderate and extreme factions while jeopardizing their chances of correctly targeting the swing voters they needed to win over in November.

The obvious moral of this story is that open primaries only serve to help radical Democrats gain and keep power.

But more importantly, this story should also inform you that radical Democrats hope Colorado Republicans never realize how successful we could become if we simply opted out.

Democrats want you to stay in the broken primary so that their corrupt party doesn’t implode if we do opt-out.

As we speak, many political insiders, fearmongers, and naysayers are doing everything they can to fool you into thinking that the rigged open primary is the best option for Colorado Republicans despite all evidence to the contrary.

We should ignore them and try something new, especially if Democrats fear the outcome.

On September 18, 2021, please join the hundreds of CRC central committee members and me in opting out of the failed open primaries that dishonest Democrats count on us to remain in.

We can take back control and reclaim election victory -- ONLY if we chart a new course now.

Sincerely,
Patrick Neville
State Representative, House District 45 (R)
Colorado General Assembly

P.S. You were mailed a pre-addressed envelope, reply device, and proxy form. Please fill it out and send it back to let us know where you stand and if you can make it to the meeting in Pueblo.

This simple action will help us ensure that your vote to reject open primaries is counted.

Your consideration is greatly appreciated.

I look forward to working with you to defeat Democrats and turn Colorado red again starting on September 18th with your vote to opt-out.