Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed Proposition 107, a measure calling for presidential primary elections to be held every four years, and Proposition 108, a measure allowing unaffiliated voter participation in primary elections, on Tuesday, Dec. 27.

Proposition 107 was approved by 64 percent of state voters in the Nov. 8 general election. The measure allows unaffiliated voters to take part without declaring a party affiliation and is expected to increase spending in the secretary of state’s office by about $210,000 in budget year 2018-19, and by $2.7 million in budget year 2019-20, when the next presidential primary election will be conducted. After that, state spending will increase every four years during presidential election years.

Counties will have costs of about $5.3 million in budget year 2019 to conduct a presidential primary election. Counties will be reimbursed about $2.6 million by the state to offset these costs. After budget year 2019-20, spending by counties will increase every four years.

Proposition 108, approved 53-47 percent by state voters, allows unaffiliated electors to vote in the primary election of a major political party without declaring an affiliation, while a political parties could vote to select candidates by committee or convention, instead of a primary election. It   increases state spending by $160,000, split evenly between the 2016-17 and 2017-18 budget years. This is a one-time cost for the secretary of state’s office to make information technology system changes to the statewide voter database and other voting systems. Spending by counties will increase by $750,000 every two years to cover the costs of mailing ballots to unaffiliated voters.