text: Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway, center, with other elected officials address a group of supporters of the 51st State Initiative during an election result watch party at the Historic Fort Lupton Fort, November 5, 2013. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post) 
   
   Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway said the 51st state movement is halted — at least in his county — but there were positive benefits from the secession campaign. 
   
   "Weld County voters said this is an option we shouldn't pursue and we won't pursue it," Conway said Tuesday night. "But we will continue to look at the problems of the urban and rural divide in this state." 
   
   Weld County voters Tuesday soundly rejected the 51st State Initiative 58 percent to 42 percent. 
   
   But in five of the 11 counties where the secession question appeared on the ballot, the measure passed by strong margins. 
   
   In Kit Carson County, 52 percent of voters directed county commissioners to explore secession and 48 percent voted against. In Washington County, 58 percent were for the initiative and 42 percent against. 
   
   Phillips County went 62 percent for and 38 against; Sedgwick went 57 percent against and 42.9 percent for; Cheyenne County voters cast 62 percent of ballots for and 37.7 against; and in Yuma County, 59 percent of the vote went for the breakaway and 41 percent against. 
   
   In Moffat County, the question failed, with 54.8 percent voting against secession. In Elbert County, 74 percent of voters said "no" to the idea of breaking away. In Lincoln County, 55.5 percent voted against. 
   
   The ballot question, intended as a straw poll, asked residents whether their county commissioners should takes steps to secede from the Centennial State. 
   
   Fort Lupton Mayor Tommy Holton said Tuesday night that secession probably would not succeed. But he said the publicity would shed light on rural Colorado's grievances. 
   
   "We not only want to be at the table," he said, "but we want a voice at the table as well." 
   
   Proponents say they have become alienated from the more urbanized Front Range and are unhappy with laws passed during this year's legislative session, including stricter gun laws and new renewable-energy standards. 
   
   "The heart of the 51st State Initiative is simple: We just want to be left alone to live our lives without heavy-handed restrictions from the state Capitol," said 51st state advocate Jeffrey Hare. 
   
   A yard sign is seen along Main Street in Akron on Election Day, November 05, 2013. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post) 
   
   Secession is a difficult process. It would require a vote of the state electorate or legislature, and then the U.S. Congress. The last time a state consented to the loss of territory was when Maine split from Massachusetts in 1820. ||||| FORT LUPTON, Colo. - The largely symbolic effort to form a 51st state called North Colorado has fizzled. 
   
   Voters in 6 of the 11 rural counties that were voting on whether to ask their commissioners to pursue creating a new state have said no. 
   
   The movement is fueled by supporters' frustration with state government's focus on growing urban areas. 
   
   Voters in several northeast and eastern Colorado counties were not asked if they want to secede, but rather if they want their county commissioners to pursue the idea. Voters in Moffat County, on the Western Slope, are also voting on the idea. 
   
   The question on the ballot read: "Shall the Board of County Commissioners of ___ County, in concert with the county commissioners of other Colorado counties, pursue becoming the 51st state of the United States of America?" 
   
   As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, voters in Elbert, Lincoln, Logan, Weld, Sedgwick and Moffat counties were voting against pursuing secession. Kit Carson, Washington, Yuma, Phillips and Cheyenne counties voted to ask their commissioners to seek joining a new state. 
   
   The solid "No" vote in Weld County -- 30,562 to 22,313 -- was a sharp rebuke of commissioners in the most populous of the counties weighing secession. Weld County commissioners led the charge to secede, saying they were pursuing the idea because they felt agriculture, oil and gas exploration are under attack in the State Legislature, and the needs of rural Colorado counties were being ignored. 
   
   While the 51st state proposal failed to win broad support Tuesday night, organizers say their grassroots crusade will have a lasting legacy. 
   
   They are already backing a new initiative. They want to model the State Senate after the United States Senate, where counties would be given equal representation -- regardless of population size. 
   
   They also hope to find statewide candidates who understand and support rural issues. 
   
   "Certainly, in the 2014 election cycle, people running for office -- urban and rural -- must have good information about the urban vs. rural divide," said 51st state spokesman Jeff Hare. 
   
   "To your critics, some who may even be your own constituents, who say this was a waste of time, a publicity stunt, what do you have to say?" asked 7NEWS Reporter Marc Stewart. 
   
   "I'd say that can't be farther from the truth," said Weld County commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer. "I don't think it's ever a waste of time to listen to the citizens and that's what we did." 
   
   The results as of 9:40 p.m. 
   
   Cheyenne -- No: 37.7% Yes: 62.2% 
   
   Elbert -- No: 58% Yes: 42% 
   
   Lincoln -- No: 55% Yes: 45% 
   
   Logan -- No: 58% Yes: 42% 
   
   Kit Carson ­ -- No: 48% Yes: 52% 
   
   Phillips -- No: 37.7% Yes: 62.2% 
   
   Sedgwick -- No: 57% Yes: 43% 
   
   Washington -- No: 42% Yes: 58% 
   
   Weld -- No: 58%. Yes: 42%. 
   
   Yuma -- No: 18.5% Yes: 81.4% 
   
   Moffat -- No: 54.7% Yes: 42.2% ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
target: – Of 11 Colorado counties voting on the question, six—Cheyenne, Kit Carson, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma—voted "yes" to consider becoming the 51st state. The ballot measure asked whether county commissioners should "pursue becoming the 51st state of the United States of America." The most populous county addressing the issue turned the idea down, 58% to 42%, in what ABC 7 calls "a sharp rebuke of commissioners" at the forefront of the effort. "Weld County voters said this is an option we shouldn't pursue, and we won't pursue it," said one. "But we will continue to look at the problems of the urban and rural divide in this state." The issue centers on that divide, the Denver Post notes, with new laws—including tougher gun and renewable energy measures—frustrating some in the 51st state movement. "The heart of the 51st State Initiative is simple: We just want to be left alone to live our lives without heavy-handed restrictions from the state Capitol," says backer Jeff Hare. But it's a long shot, requiring state and US congressional approval. Still, Hare says the movement has left a mark: Next year, "people running for office ... must have good information about the urban vs. rural divide."