Presidential primary elections would return to Colorado, and independent voters could take part in primary elections, under two more measures placed on the state general election ballot Wednesday.

Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams announced that backers of the separate ballot measures submitted the signatures of more than the required number of registered voters to place the issues before voters.

Initiative 98 allows unaffiliated, or independent, voters to participate in primary elections without having to declare as a member of a certain party, as is the current law. However, Republicans and Democrats could decide to avoid a primary election and instead choose their general election candidates at their party assembly or convention, with approval from 75 percent of the party’s state central committee.

Initiative 140 calls for a a presidential primary to be held before the end of March in presidential election years, and allows unaffiliated voters to participate without declaring to be a member of a political party. Colorado previously held presidential primaries in 1992, 1996 and 2000. This measure would restore a presidential primary in Colorado beginning in 2020.

Both measures amend state law rather than the state constitution. They bring to seven the number of citizen initiatives that Colorado voters will consider on Nov. 8.

Dr. Robert Preuhs, associate professor of political science at Metro State University in Denver, said Colorado is currently one of 16 states that uses a party caucus system to determine support for a party’s presidential candidates.

“One advantage to having a presidential primary early in the (political) season is to have early influence” in the selection process, Preuhs said. “And it would probably be better with (both measures being  approved.)”

Having unaffiliated voters take part in primary elections to select candidates for other offices takes the process solely out of the hands of party activists, Preuhs said.

“You also tend to get more moderate candidates” when voters decide instead of party activists, he added. “If there is a strong preference for avoiding the primary, likely out of fear of a more moderate candidate winning, then the party takes control through the assembly and convention process.”

But an argument that open primaries draw more voters doesn’t always hold up, Preuhs said.

“Voters tend to be more strategic in how they vote. They’ll register to vote in races they have a strong interest in. Open primaries likely draw more voters but not always more diverse voters.”

Backers of both issues turned in their petitions on Aug. 8. A 5-percent random sample of the submitted signatures for Initiative 98 projected the number of valid signatures to be 108,490, while Initiative 140 had  109,715, according to the secretary of state’s office. All citizen initiatives need at least 98,492 signatures to be placed on the ballot.

The office is still tabulating the final two citizen measures that were turned in: No. 75, giving local government the authority to regulate oil-and-gas development; and No. 78, expanding setback requirements for new oil-and-gas development.

Other citizen proposals approved for the ballot are ColoradoCare,  Minimum Wage, Medical Aid in Dying, Amending the Constitution and New Cigarette and Tobacco Taxes.

Also on the ballot are two measures referred by the Colorado General Assembly: Amendment T, regarding servitude; and Amendment U, regarding property taxes. The Denver Metro Scientific and Cultural Facilities Board put Ballot Issue 4B, a sales-and-use tax measure, on ballots in the counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Boulder, Denver, Douglas (except Castle Rock and Larkspur) and Jefferson.