The Unaffiliated Myth

by Michael J Badagliacco, "MJB"

Colorado keeps repeating the same line: unaffiliated voters are now more than half the electorate. Statewide figures this year put them near 51-52% of active voters, with Democrats around 25% and Republicans around 23%. In Montrose County the picture looks similar on paper. Recent county totals show about 34,279 registered voters, with Republicans at 12,997 (37.9%), Democrats at 4,108 (12%), and everyone else, mostly listed as unaffiliated or minor party, at 17,174 (50.1%).

The City of Montrose is a smaller slice of that roll. Colorado publishes party affiliation by county, not by city limits. What the city does publish is the municipal voter list. For the April 2026 city election, clerks mailed ballots to 15,306 registered city voters. Only 5,350 came back, a 35% return. Two years earlier the city list stood at 14,501 and turnout was about 25%. Those are the city numbers we actually have: a growing list, and a lot of people who never mark the ballot.

That 50% figure is real. What it does not prove is that half of Montrose woke up and chose a third political identity, or that those voters move as one.

Colorado automatically registers eligible people when they deal with the DMV. The clerk then mails a notice. A person can decline registration or pick a party. If the notice is ignored for 20 days, the record is completed as unaffiliated. That is the default. It is not a mass conversion rally. It is what happens when people finish a license errand and never mail the form back. New registrations through the motor vehicle system land in the unaffiliated column unless someone takes an extra step.

Look at the trend in this county. In 2020 Montrose had 31,004 registered voters: Republicans 44.5%, Democrats 16.3%, and other or unaffiliated 39.2%. By 2025 Republican and Democratic shares had both fallen while the leftover bucket crossed 50%. Some people did switch on purpose. Plenty more never chose a party in the first place. That is neglect and paperwork, not a coordinated walkout from the two major parties.

The idea that these numbers mark some utopian break from party politics is a fantasy. A default on a form is not a civic renaissance. It does not mean voters have risen above factions, found a higher path, or built a new majority with a common purpose. Most of the growth is administrative. Treating it as a moral upgrade only makes the myth larger.

The better test is the ballot.

In the 2024 general election Montrose cast 25,995 ballots out of roughly 34,300 registered voters, a turnout of about 76%. Donald Trump received 16,704 votes (65.2%). Kamala Harris received 8,354 (32.6%). Other presidential tickets together took a little more than 2%. In the 3rd Congressional District race, Republican Jeff Hurd took 15,512 votes (62.6%) to Democrat Adam Frisch’s 8,321 (33.6%). Those are not the numbers of a county who’s largest “bloc” is sitting out party politics. They are the numbers of a Republican county that still votes that way even after the registration rolls filled with unaffiliated labels.

The same lesson holds closer to home. Unaffiliated voters are not a “united bloc” with mythical weight in any race, including the local contests we call “nonpartisan”. School board, city council, and local board races still split along the same lines as everything else here. A candidate listed as unaffiliated can win. That does not mean 17,000 people voted as a team. It means a name, a record, and a set of neighbors decided the outcome. There is no unaffiliated machine, no shared slate, and no hidden majority waiting to be summoned by the label on a registration card.

Unaffiliated voters here can take a Democratic or Republican primary ballot. That choice is useful. It is not a platform. Treating the clerk’s leftover column as one army is a category error. A list built by default is not a coalition.



If you want to know where Montrose stands, skip the pie chart of party labels and read the returns. The parties still organize most of the vote. The unaffiliated column is large because the system puts people there unless they object. That is a registration rule. It is not a political awakening.