Denver Judge Questions Democrats' Use of Secret Ballots to Prioritize Legislation
In a courtroom hearing on Thursday, a Denver judge expressed skepticism regarding the use of secret ballots by state lawmakers in Colorado to prioritize bills. The practice, known as quadratic voting, has been subject to a lawsuit alleging that it violates open meetings law.
Under the quadratic voting system, lawmakers log on to a website each spring and anonymously use digital tokens to vote for the bills they believe should receive a portion of the state budget.
Supporters argue that this system improves efficiency in the lawmaking process. However, critics, including the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, argue that it lacks transparency and excludes the public from an important part of the legislative process.
Judge David Goldberg, who will be ruling on the lawsuit, seemed to share the concerns raised about transparency. He questioned the defense presented by the legislature, suggesting that the secret ballot system allows legislators to hide their positions on matters of public importance.
The defense attorneys argued that the anonymous bill ranking is not a meeting that needs to be publicly held under open meetings law. They described it as a "data point" that helps lawmakers move bills through the process more efficiently, comparing it to a form of traffic control.
Judge Goldberg appeared skeptical of the defense's attempts to downplay the significance of the voting process. He argued that by allocating tokens and expressing the importance of bills, the process goes beyond being a mere data point.
The Public Trust Institute, a conservative group, filed the lawsuit in July, claiming that quadratic voting denies the public the right to hold individual legislators accountable for their priorities. The group also argues that it allows certain bills to be advanced or killed in a secret process, bypassing public discussion and debate.
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State Sen. Chris Hansen, D-Denver, introduced quadratic voting to the Capitol as an experiment on the House Appropriations Committee in 2019, when several big bills were competing against each other for funding.
A ruling on the quadratic voting lawsuit is expected before the end of the month.