An alarming effort is underway to throw out the nonpartisan guardrails voters placed around Colorado’s congressional map six years ago — just so the state can join a national, partisan war over congressional redistricting.

The inaptly named group, Coloradans for a Level Playing Field, has put forward several possible measures for November’s ballot. Its sole objective is to boost Democrats’ chances of flipping three of Colorado’s Republican U.S. House seats in 2028.

At least two of those seats are already competitive in 2026. But Democrats want a guaranteed victory, not just a good shot.

Colorado used to leave redistricting up to legislators, who crafted maps behind closed doors — frequently getting bogged down in partisan fights that often ended up in court, with judges making the decision.

Voters decided to abandon that failed system in 2018, when a whopping 71% approved Amendments Y and Z to create independent commissions tasked with drawing legislative maps.

The decision to cut out the partisanship was in line with the overall trend away from political parties in our state. Now, more than half of registered Colorado voters are unaffiliated with any political party.

Why would they want to revert to a system that injects partisanship and uncertainty back into the equation?

The current system serves us well and has yielded a pretty fair balance in party representation in Congress. Four of Colorado’s seats are solid blue. At least two seats held by Republicans are competitive.

Do Democrats need to gerrymander to win? Consider the 8th Congressional District represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans. Evans wrested his seat from Democrat Yadira Caraveo in 2024, and it’s a top target for Democrats hoping to take it back this year — without rigging the game.

Colorado’s congressional map even has been recognized nationally: Princeton University’s Gerrymandering Project graded it an “A,” marking the map among the nation’s fairest.

Though imperfect, like any redistricting system, Colorado’s commission system is relatively nonpartisan and above the fray, just as voters intended.

While proponents of the initiatives claim to be guarding against comparable efforts by Republicans in red states to grab more congressional seats nationwide, let’s remember President Donald Trump won’t be on the ballot in 2028. Some other Republican nominee will.

In other words, any effort in Colorado to directly affect the national political landscape will be moot after this year. Yet, the effort risks undoing important, voter-enacted checks on partisanship  in our state — for fleeting gain.

It’s hard to see how a national political “emergency,” as some refer to it, justifies scrapping a Colorado system designed for — and embraced by — Colorado voters. Perhaps doubly so for its majority unaffiliated voters who explicitly refuse membership in any political party, let alone the national Trump-vs-Democrat slugfest.

Fortunately, backers of the initiatives have drawn a response. As Colorado Politics reported, the conservative advocacy group Advance Colorado recently filed ballot measures to push back at the Democratic power grab.

To its great credit, Advance Colorado isn’t trying to give Republicans an advantage but instead seeks to shore up the voter-approved redistricting system with additional safeguards against partisan maps.

Coloradans voted overwhelmingly to kick the politics out of redistricting. Now politicians — and their allies — are trying to get politics voted back in.

The state’s leading political figures in both parties, and particularly Colorado’s top elected Democrats, ought to denounce this effort to subvert the will of our voters — who are tired of partisanship.