Well the number of tags should fluctuate depending on the population. Just because CO is overrun doesn't mean everyone else is. I don't know if they've had the right number of tags available in CO or their cost... It could be that there are tags going unused, it could be that all the elk are in unhuntable areas.
Unhuntable like in town.
There are a few of us die-hard hunters that don't believe in unreachable places. It is usually the enviro wackos that deny access.