New (North?) Colorado

[chiver78]

link

just hearing about this ballot initiative in CO tonight - some rural communities want to vote to secede from the State of Colorado to create a 51st state.

have to admit, this is news to me. I know a few people in that state, from various places along the political spectrum, and they all happen to live close to the cities. anyone have insight to this particular vote?

[billisonboard]

Supporters say they also favor ... a plan to give each county one state senator, which would give overwhelming political weight to sparsely populated, rural areas. (from the link in the OP)

A little factoid:

Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964) was a United States Supreme Court case that ruled that state legislature districts had to be roughly equal in population. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_v._Sims

So that concept won't be happening.

[Angel!]

I don't know much about it, except it isn't going to work.  The state would have to approve it & they wouldn't.

I first started hearing about it when the new gun laws passed.  A lot of rural counties were in a uproar & a large gunmaker was threatening to leave the state.  They still haven't left the state & it is starting to upset customers that they appeared to have made an idle threat.

[Tennesseer]

Nov 5, 2013 18:00:32 GMT -5 Angel! said:

I don't know much about it, except it isn't going to work.  The state would have to approve it & they wouldn't.

I first started hearing about it when the new gun laws passed.  A lot of rural counties were in a uproar & a large gunmaker was threatening to leave the state.  They still haven't left the state & it is starting to upset customers that they appeared to have made an idle threat.

My understanding is it would also require the approval of the U.S. congress which I don't see happening.

[billisonboard]

Nov 5, 2013 18:37:52 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

... My understanding is it would also require the approval of the U.S. congress which I don't see happening.

Article. IV.
...

Section. 3.

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html

[Tennesseer]

Nov 5, 2013 18:53:30 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Nov 5, 2013 18:37:52 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

... My understanding is it would also require the approval of the U.S. congress which I don't see happening.

Article. IV.
...

Section. 3.

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html

AKA 'When Pigs Fly'.

[chiver78]

Nov 5, 2013 18:53:30 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Nov 5, 2013 18:37:52 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

... My understanding is it would also require the approval of the U.S. congress which I don't see happening.

Article. IV.
...

Section. 3.

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html

thanks.....I had a vague recollection of this line item.

the question I had in the OP was more from the angle of where the ballot question even came from. is rural CO that far detached from the rest of the state? I was pretty surprised to hear about a secession initiative for the first time on election night. I know I just got home from vacation, but I've only been gone since Thursday.

[EVT1]

People in these places are detached all right- from reality.

[Angel!]

Nov 5, 2013 19:06:58 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Nov 5, 2013 18:53:30 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Article. IV.
...

Section. 3.

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html

thanks.....I had a vague recollection of this line item.

the question I had in the OP was more from the angle of where the ballot question even came from. is rural CO that far detached from the rest of the state? I was pretty surprised to hear about a secession initiative for the first time on election night. I know I just got home from vacation, but I've only been gone since Thursday.

You probably haven't heard it because it really hasn't even been big news here. I think everyone knows this is a dead end even if the vote passes in some counties. 

Most of these counties are very detached because they are extremely rural.  Several have populations under 5K despite being a couple thousand square miles in size.  They are ranchers & farmers, whereas probably 95% or more of the population in CO lives in a major urban area.  These large counties with no population are tired of being led by the urban areas - although I would think this is the case in many states.

The only one that surprised me is Weld county because they have Greeley, but I expect the vote will lose there. That county has both rural & urban areas, so probably just enough interest to get it on the ballot.  I am a little surprised that the southeastern counties - Baca, Kiowa, etc, didn't join in because they are just as rural.

[Angel!]

Well of the 11 counties voting, it passed in 5. All of the counties where it passed had less than 2k votes total. Yuma had a total of 70 votes and it passed by a landslide there.