WELD COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) – If you live in Weld County, you may soon be asked if you want to live in Wyoming instead.
According to the political committee “Weld County Wyoming,” the question is part of a new push to get a measure on the November ballot that would “instruct Weld County Commissioners to engage and explore the annexation of Weld County with the State of Wyoming’s Legislature.”
“Can this be done? Yes, it can be done. Is it going to be easy? No,” Christopher “Todd” Richards said during a meeting posted to YouTube in November.
According to Colorado’s campaign finance disclosure website, Richards registered Weld County Wyoming in February 2020. He said during the meeting posted to YouTube that he got the idea in 2019 after reading an op-ed in the Denver Post and began pursuing the idea through a Facebook page soon after.
“We’re going to move a county to a different state,” he explained during the meeting. “We’re not really moving. We’re just moving a line.”
The idea is to re-draw the state lines to exclude Weld County from Colorado and include it within Wyoming’s borders instead.
“Specifically for those of us who live in Weld County, we live in a state who is no longer a minister to us for good,” a pastor at the meeting posted to YouTube said. “The state of Colorado is at war with three major economic drivers for Weld County: small businesses, agriculture, and oil and gas.”
With a population of more than 324,000 people and growing, not everyone in Weld County agrees with the the idea to “move.”
“I absolutely love living in Colorado. For those that don’t love living here, there are certainly less ridiculous ways of moving to Wyoming,” Greeley City Council member Tommy Butler told FOX31.
If Weld County joined Wyoming, the state’s population would increase by more than 50%; its current population is about 579,000.
FOX31 reached out to city leaders in several cities across Weld County as well as the county commissioners.
Erie Mayor Jennifer Carroll said in a statement:
“There are a lot of consideration(s) for Weld County voters if they want to secede to Wyoming: income tax, personal property tax, corporate state income tax, retirement income tax, gas tax, severance taxes on oil and gas, and water rights to name a few. If Weld County residents approve the ballot question, the Colorado legislature has to approve it, the Wyoming legislature has to approve it, and it’s possible both Colorado voters and Congress will need to approve it as well.
“As the Mayor of Erie, I respect the process and the cornerstone of voting. Ultimately, the people will choose the outcome. In my role, I can help residents discover the risks and benefits of such a measure. This measure will undoubtedly require a great deal of pre-education for voters.”
A similar idea was proposed in 2013 under the failed “51st State Initiative,” which attempted to form a new state with several northern Colorado counties. It passed in five of the 11 Colorado counties where it appeared on the ballot.
The state of California has seen more than 200 failed attempts to break apart. However, last year, voters in two Oregon counties passed ballot measures requiring county officials to explore the idea of joining Idaho instead.
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Better they break away and form a seperate state so they can get two new Senators to counter the Democrat’s move to make D.C. a state.
I’d fully agree with that option!
What I read was that the cards are stacked against ANYONE wishing to get out from under The Dem Thumb!
Probably MADE that way, DELIBERATELY!
It wouldn’t at all surprise me if the Dems decided to finish the southern border wall–except facing inward.
IMO WE should have walled out EVERY COMMIE CONTROLLED STATE< decades ago, and CONTAINED THEM, so they couldn't spread their insanity and perversions into darn near every other state…
I’m for annexing Fresno County, CA to a good republican state like Texas, Kansas or Oklahoma!
LOL! I’ve had the following idea for a few years now. Why are we fed up? It’s “A Tale of Two Cities”, Los Angles and San Francisco and their surrounding areas are the Tail wagging the rest of the state; coupled with the judges both “Elected” and “Selected” by them. I’ve been saying for some time now that Calipornia doesn’t have a “North/South” problem as much as it has an “East/West” one. (Which is why I didn’t see how the defeated Tri-State proposal just for Northern Calipornia and Southern Oregon could’ve benefited our rural citizens.) I’ve also suggested that a line about 10 to 20/30 miles west of I-5 from Mexico to Oregon be the dividing line.
However, having gotten the feedback I have, I’m now of the impression that both eastern Oregon and Washington States are as fed up with their coastal nitwits as we are and would gladly join us in the north/south division and extend it from Mexico all the way to Canada. I believe that with the combined populations of the eastern halves of California, Oregon and Washington States we can out vote Las Vegas and the gambling interests would be too greedy to care as long as they could open up such a vast new territory. I think my proposal of ceding the entire West Coast to the current states on a line drawn about 10 to 20/30 miles west of I-5 from Mexico to Canada, with the eastern half joining Nevada, would be far better for all concerned.
I’d agree with that, JUST IF WE can give sicoremento to the LA/San Fran diseased state.
A word of caution to any that seek such action, from one who was born and raised in California.
If it is your desire to break away from a state where the Leftists have taken over the cities, gathered in mass and control the vote to push their agenda, give it up, the whole state gets to vote and they will not let go of the revenues you provide.
We here in Northern California have been attempting a split since before World War II and we don’t seem to be making much progress! As a matter of fact, if LA and San Francisco were gone, we would have a nice state!
Are you saying it’s time to start burning candles at the alter of Saint Andreas?
Many of us, have been PRAYING for that fault line, to wake up with such a fury, for a number of years now..