This could make 58.

DENVER — Colorado’s 51st state movement gained steam Tuesday as commissioners in three more rural counties agreed to add the question to their November ballots.

That brings to seven the number of counties considering whether to split from the state and form a new state, tentatively called Northern Colorado, in reaction to the Democratic state Legislature’s so-called “war on rural Colorado.”

An eighth county, Kit Carson, is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to join the 51st state movement by placing a referendum before the voters on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Commissioners in Logan and Yuma counties agreed Tuesday to put the referendum on the ballot, while the Phillips County Commission did so late Monday. The deadline to add a measure to the November ballot is Sept. 5.

So far all the counties are located in northeastern Colorado, near the Wyoming border, but the movement could expand to the state’s Western Slope. At its meeting Tuesday, the Moffat County Commission discussed putting the measure up for a vote.

Moffat County is located in the northwestern corner of Colorado, abutting Wyoming and Utah. There are 64 counties in Colorado, most of which are rural and conservative, but the state’s population centers lie in liberal Denver and Boulder.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/21/secessionist-51st-state-movement-gains-steam-colo/#ixzz2cdCkH66j