The 2022 political party primaries in Colorado are behind us. In two months, on Oct. 18, ballots for the November general election will be mailed to the voters.

Traditionally, the last two months before voting begins is when election campaigns for the Legislature begin in earnest. This is a good time to evaluate the situation in the 2022 legislative races.

Legislative elections are a three-step process in Colorado. The first begins with precinct caucuses that elect delegates to county conventions. One of the duties of those delegates is to join in “district assemblies” at which they nominate party candidates. There is one district assembly for each Senate seat and one district assembly for each House seat.

If a would-be candidate gets 30% of the vote at the district assembly, he or she is automatically nominated to the primary election ballot. If a second candidate gets 30%, which does not happen very often, both names go on the primary election ballot. It is also possible for candidates to get on the primary election ballot by gathering a specified number of petition signatures.

We have attended county conventions and know that district assemblies vary in size depending on interest in particular elections or certain candidates. About 100 delegates attend the average district assembly and vote for nominees for the House and Senate.

Twenty-four of the Democrats nominated at district assemblies for House seats have been de facto elected, while 11 Republicans are as good as elected to the House, even though the general election has not been held yet.

The reason for this is simple. If a candidate is nominated at the district assembly, does not have a primary election, and has been gerrymandered by the redistricting process into a safe-democratic or safe-republican seat, there is a 99% chance he or she will win the general election.

For these 24 Democrats and 11 Republicans, the only real election they have won is at the district assembly. They will win the general election, not because they are the most appealing candidate, or run on the most popular issues, or do the best job of reading the changing moods of the electorate. They will win simply because large numbers of their fellow party members were drawn into the same legislative district with them.

There are 65 members of the state House. The 35 elected solely from the district assembly in both political parties constitute a majority of the membership (33) plus 2, despite only passing a district assembly vote.

The second step in the legislative election process is party primary elections. For the House in 2022, there were six Democratic primaries and 14 Republican primaries.

Six of the Democratic primaries and eight of the Republican primaries were for safe seats for the two political parties. That meant the winners of those 14 primary elections were, in effect, elected in the primary.

It is good when candidates are tested in Democratic or Republican primaries. They have to work hard to win the votes of their fellow party members. There is an element of large numbers of voters electing them over an opponent.

Keep this in mind about party primary elections, however. The turnout of voters runs at about 30% of the turnout of voters in the November general election. It is a much smaller electorate.

The third step in the legislative election process is the November general election. Only 16 seats in the House will be decided in the general election, where all voters — registered Democrats, registered Republicans, and registered unaffiliateds — will be eligible to vote.

These 16 seats were created to be “competitive” seats by the redistricting process, which means either the Democratic or the Republican candidate can win them in the general election.

The equivalent numbers for the Senate are smaller but similar. Five Democrats were nominated at their district assembly, did not have a Democratic primary, and sought to be elected in safe-democratic districts. They are as good as elected.

Five Republicans got the nod at their district assembly, did not have a Republican primary, and were running in safe-republican districts. They, too, are as good as elected.

One Republican was nominated at the district assembly and then won the Republican primary election. It was a safe-republican district, however, so that candidate was in effect elected.

Six Senate seats were created by redistricting to be “competitive” and will be decided in the general election.

We are concerned that the winners of such a large number of seats in the Legislature (35 in the state House and 10 in the state Senate) are determined at the district assembly, where only 100 or so delegates are voting, rather than in the general election, where thousands of people are voting.

State representatives and senators have been put in office by the limited number of their fellow party members voting at the district assembly. They therefore feel a reduced obligation to the larger community of people who live in their legislative district.

Democrats who take the trouble to go to their county convention and stick around until late in the day to vote in their district assemblies are likely to be activist liberals and to the left of the average Colorado Democrat.

By the same token, Republicans who bother to go to their county convention and stay late to vote in their district assemblies are likely to be activist conservatives to the right in their views compared to the average Colorado Republican.

Thus, one of the main causes of political polarization in the Legislature is that so many Democrats and Republicans are selected in their district assemblies and not by the electorate at the general election.

The result, we believe, is an unrepresentative Legislature. It is the left for the Democrats, and the right for the Republicans, that get overrepresented by the existing system with its overemphasis on safe-democratic and safe-republican seats.

The 2022 legislative elections in Colorado are down to the home stretch. In only the 16 competitive House seats and the six competitive Senate seats will real voting be taking place in the general election.