Two Democratic legislators in Colorado may lose their seats as the state participates in its first ever recall election on Tuesday. The race is being seen as a referendum on gun rights since the recall effort came about after the two legislators supported a restrictive gun-control law earlier in the year, according to CNN.
The current president of the State Senate John Morse and State Sen. Angela Giron supported legislation that expanded background checks and limited the size of ammunition magazines. After the legislation passed a movement to recall all of the legislators who supported the bill sprung up and was supported by gun advocacy groups such as the National Rifle Association. The movement only gained enough signatures to force a recall election for Morse and Giron.
Money has poured into the state from both sides of the gun-control divide; both the NRA and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have thrown in over $300,000. The majority of the funds raised have been by the two candidates facing recall, although groups that do not need to make their funding public have purchased ads throughout the state, according to the Associated Press.
The Democrats trying to hold on to their seats are going to face at least one disadvantage, as of Monday morning the majority of voters who submitted early ballots were Republicans, reports the Washington Post.
Out of slightly more than 10,000 ballots cast only 3,349 were cast by Democrats in the district represented by Morse. Historically Democrats usually benefit from higher turnout during the early voting period so this is being seen as an ominous sign. Of the two legislators Morse is thought to be the more vulnerable since the district he represents leans more conservatively than Giron's, according to the Washington Post.
Democrats in Colorado have told the Huffington Post that they believe there have been efforts made to suppress the Democratic vote during the recall election. One official believes that the turnout is expected to be under 15 percent, according to the Huffington Post.
"That's just astronomically low," the official said. "It's a race made up of an endless number of things that will just confuse voters and have an effect on the election itself."
One controversial decision regarding the election was made by District Judge Robert McGahey when he forbid the use of mail-in ballots in the election last month despite a state law guaranteeing the mail-in option for all elections passed earlier in the year. Mail-in voting has been standard in Colorado for quite some time, according to the Huffington Post.
