Among the 2013 election cycle's quirkier outcomes, five Colorado counties, fed up with the direction of the prevailing state legislature, voted to begin the process of seceding from the state of Colorado and forming a new state all their own -- North Colorado. There are possibly insurmountable obstacles to this effort, not the least of which being that both Colorado's state legislature and the US Congress would constitutionally be required to approve the move, and it is highly suspect that Congress, at least, would allow the creation of a state with a population less than a tenth that of the smallest existing state (even as a political counterbalance against prospectively admitting Puerto Rico to the Union).

Of the eleven counties holding votes on the question, the five favoring secession are:

Philips, pop. 4442, area 688 mi2
Yuma, pop. 10043, area 2369 mi2
Washington, pop. 4814, area 2522 mi2
Kit Carson, pop. 8270, area 2162 mi2
Cheyenne, pop. 1836, area 1781 mi2
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TOTAL, pop. 29405, area 9522 mi2

(Wiki thoughtfully provides a map, with the counties in question being orange-tinted)

Interestingly, sizewise this state would be no embarrassment, fitting snugly between Vermont and New Hampshire. But populationwise, it would fall well below the least populous existing state, nearby Wyoming, which at least tops half a million people. Some chatter has been directed as well to the possibility of these counties simply switching allegiance to another state. When the whole secession movement began, Wyoming was touted, but none of the counties actually bordering Wyoming voted in favor of secession. And so this sort of talk has turned to Nebraska and Kansas, states which do in fact exhibit contiguity to the prospectively disembarking cluster.

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