Colorado has a love-hate relationship with its caucuses.

The caucus system is confusing and in many groups unpopular, but for some it represents the last true grass-roots political process in an age run by multimillion-dollar campaigns and political-action committees.

It is both loved and dreaded in the state for the same reason – its sheer complexity.

Proponents of the system – which brings neighbors together for small meetings on March 1 to elect delegates to represent them at the county level – say it’s the last true chance for a layperson to affect the outcome of not just the presidential race but all of Colorado’s local and state elections.

Opponents say the complexity and rigidity (if you’re not free that Tuesday at 7 p.m., you can’t participate) disenfranchises thousands of Colorado voters and the nearly 1 million unaffiliated voters in this most purple of swing states.

To caucus or to primary has been a debate Colorado has harbored for years.

“The irony about the debate is, people who have lived in Colorado and been involved in politics for a long time often say that the caucus is a grass-roots process that keeps the people involved, but newcomers to Colorado or people who simply don’t understand the system will always think that the caucus must be some kind of establishment game, and that a direct primary would be much more representative,” said Daniel Cole, executive director of the El Paso County Republican Party.

Cole said he thinks the issue deserves a hard look and that caucuses have their drawbacks.

“The truth is that it’s so complicated that people who don’t understand it have a difficult time learning it,” he said, adding it takes a solid 20 minutes for him to explain the process to someone.

The group Let Colorado Vote filed language for a petition last week that would ask voters in November to move Colorado to a primary system and to open that system up to unaffiliated voters.

“The current system draws lackluster interest from voters and candidates and, this year, Colorado Republican caucuses will not consider presidential candidates,” said Joe Blake, former chancellor of the Colorado State University system and co-filer of the petition.

In 1992, 1996 and 2000 Colorado held presidential preference primaries, but after 2000 (when, for the record, voters picked Al Gore and George W. Bush as nominees) the state slashed the primary from the budget.

Rick Palacio, chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party, teamed up with the Republican Party in 2015 proposing bringing back the presidential preference primary. The bill died in the Republican-controlled Senate in part because it would have cost more than $1 million to ask voters who they supported in an independent election in March.

“Once we get through this election year, I would be happy to work with my Republican counterparts on creating a system that makes it easier for more registered voters to participate in the election process,” Palacio said. “I think that we can create a system that encourages more participation but also doesn’t create a system where … it’s really the wealthy special interests that have something to gain.”

And Colorado GOP Executive Director Ryan Lynch wasn’t opposed to that idea.

“It’s certainly something the public needs to begin debating,” Lynch said. “It’s very grass-roots oriented, but you have a very low turnout in caucus relevant to the number of Republicans registered in the state.”

For example, in 2008, the last time both Democrats and Republicans were without an incumbent, slightly more than 70,000 Republicans participated in the caucus out of nearly 1 million registered voters. Democrats fared slightly better, with about 120,000 voters participating that year out of almost 900,000 registered Democrats.

But don’t sign the death certificate for the presidential caucus yet.

“I love the caucus process,” said Chuck Broerman, El Paso County clerk and recorder. “I really enjoy the fact that grass-roots people can get in and participate in the process and make a decision about who the candidates are going to be.”

He said it’s a structure that allows your average person to participate with just a few hours of invested time.

So just how does the Colorado caucus process work?

First, remember that the entire system is based on electing delegates to send to the Democratic and Republican national conventions, where those delegates will then vote for the nominee.

Colorado Democrats will send 79 delegates to their convention in Philadelphia in July.

Colorado Republicans will send 37 delegates to their convention in Cleveland in July.

Some of those delegates from each party are “superdelegates,” who get to go by virtue of the office they hold and can back any candidate they choose.

The rest of the delegates will be elected at each parties’ state assemblies and congressional district assemblies (sometimes called multi-county assemblies). It’s interesting to note that more delegates will be elected by both parties’ congressional district assemblies than at their state assemblies.

To get to either of those assemblies as a voting member is a process of elimination that begins on caucus night, March 1, in local precincts.

In most counties, people will be elected to their county assembly on March 1, and then at the county assembly, some will be elected to the state assembly and the congressional district assemblies.

El Paso County does things slightly different from most counties. At caucus meetings on March 1, delegates will be elected to both the county and the state assembly (the list of state delegates will be approved at the county level).

Democrats will also hold a presidential preference poll on March 1, the results of which are not binding but will be used by the media to declare a winner in Colorado.

Regardless of the results from the polls, Colorado’s delegates will actually be decided on at the April 16 state assembly and the state’s delegates can switch loyalties headed into the Democratic National Convention in July.

Republicans eliminated the preference poll this year, so there won’t be a clear picture of what presidential candidate is leading in Colorado until the congressional district and assemblies that will take place in Colorado Springs April 8-9.

Presidential hopefuls looking to “win” Colorado will have to wait until April to see the results, although by then it’s possible (and arguably the norm) that enough of the country will have spoken through binding primaries that someone will have a lock on the nomination anyway.

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Contact Megan Schrader

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Twitter: @CapitolSchrader