1-40-109. Signatures required – withdrawal
Overview of Statute
No petition for any initiated law is of any force , nor shall the proposed law be submitted to the people of the state of Colorado for adoption or rejection at the polls, unless the petition for the submission of the initiated law is signed by the required number of registered electors.
Statute
(1) (a) No petition for any initiated law is of any force or effect, nor shall the proposed law be submitted to the people of the state of Colorado for adoption or rejection at the polls, as is by law provided for, unless the petition for the submission of the initiated law is signed by the number of registered electors required by section 1 (2) of article V of the state constitution.
(b) No petition for any initiated amendment to the state constitution is of any force or effect, nor shall the initiated amendment to the state constitution be submitted to the people of the state of Colorado for adoption or rejection at the polls, as is by law provided for, unless the petition for the submission of the initiated amendment to the state constitution is signed by the number of registered electors required by the state constitution who reside in each state senate district in Colorado, so long as the total number of registered electors who have signed the petition is at least the number of registered electors required by section 1 (2) of article V of the state constitution. For purposes of this subsection (1)(b), the number and boundaries of the state senate districts are those in existence, and the number of registered electors in the state senate districts is those registered, at the time the form of the petition is approved for circulation in accordance with section 1-40-113 (1)(a).
(2) (Deleted by amendment, L. 95, p. 433, § 7, effective May 8, 1995.)
(3) Any person who is a registered elector may sign a petition for any ballot issue for which the elector is eligible to vote. A registered elector who signs a petition may withdraw his or her signature from the petition by filing a written request for such withdrawal with the secretary of state at any time on or before the day that the petition is filed with the secretary of state.
Source: L. 93: Entire article amended with relocations, p. 682, § 1, effective May 4. L. 94: (2)amended, p. 1180, § 73, effective July 1. L. 95: (2) and (3) amended, p. 433, § 7, effective May 8.L. 2009: (3) amended, (HB 09-1326), ch. 258, p. 1172, § 7, effective May 15. L. 2017: (1)amended, (SB 17-152), ch. 169, p. 617, § 3, effective August 9.
Editor’s note: This section is similar to former § 1-40-105 as it existed prior to 1993, and the former § 1-40-109 was relocated. For a detailed comparison, see the comparative tables located in the back of the index.
ANNOTATIONS
Annotator’s note. The following annotations include cases decided under former provisions similar to this section.
Holding that an elector, who printed, signed and advocated petition challenging city zoning ordinance and was also a notary public, was not “named individually as a party to the transaction,” for purposes of determining whether notary public statute disqualified elector from notarizing signatures of other electors who signed the petition, as elector was not named on the face of the petition, given that statute allowed elector to withdraw her signature prior to filing, elector did not become a party to the petition by simply signing it, initiative provisions were to be interpreted liberally, and the same person could sign and authorize such a petition without unjustifiably increasing the risk of fraud. Griff v. City of Grand Junction, App.2010, 262 P.3d 906, rehearing denied, certiorari denied 2011 WL 4448961.
Applied in Spelts v. Klausing, 649 P.2d 303 (Colo. 1982).
- Cross-References:
- Ballot Initiatives & Recall Elections
- Petition Content
- Signature Requirements
- Withdrawal
1. Definition for Ballot issue
A nonrecall, citizen-initiated petition or legislatively-referred
measure which is authorized by the state constitution, including a question as defined in sections 1-41-102 (3) and 1-41-103 (3), enacted in Senate Bill 93-98.
2. Definition for State
A state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. C.R.S. § 1-8.3-102.
3. Definition for Ballot
(a) A federal write-in absentee ballot;
(b) A ballot specifically prepared or distributed for use by a covered voter in accordance with this article; or
(c) A ballot cast by a covered voter in accordance with this article.
(2) “Covered voter” means:
(a) A uniformed-service voter defined in paragraph (a) of subsection (9) of this section who is a resident of this state but who is absent from this state by reason of active duty and who otherwise satisfies this state’s voter eligibility requirements;
(b) An overseas voter who, before leaving the United States, was last eligible to vote in this state and, except for a state residency requirement, otherwise satisfies this state’s voter eligibility requirements;
(c) An overseas voter who, before leaving the United States, would have been last eligible to vote in this state had the voter then been of voting age and, except for a state residency requirement, otherwise satisfies this state’s voter eligibility requirements; or
(d) An overseas voter who was born outside the United States, is not described in paragraph (b) or (c) of this subsection (2), and, except for a state residency requirement, otherwise satisfies this state’s voter eligibility requirements if the last place where a parent, legal guardian, spouse, or civil union partner of the voter was, or under this article would have been, eligible to vote before leaving the United States is within this state.
C.R.S. § 1-8.3-102.
4. Definition for Person
Any natural person, partnership, committee, association, corporation, labor organization, political party, or other organization or group of persons. Section 2(11) of article XXVIII of the state constitution.
5. Definition for Section
A bound compilation of initiative forms approved by the secretary of state, which shall include pages that contain the warning required by section 1-40-110 (1), the ballot title, the abstract required by section 1-40-110 (3), and a copy of the proposed measure; succeeding pages that contain the warning, the ballot title, and ruled lines numbered consecutively for registered electors’ signatures; and a final page that contains the affidavit required by section 1-40-111 (2). Each section shall be consecutively prenumbered by the petitioner prior to circulation.
6. Definition for Secretary
The Colorado secretary of state. C.R.S. § 1-1.5-102.
Cases
Colorado Cases
Case Name: Spelts v. Klausing
Citation: 649 P.2d 303 (Colo. 1982)
Year: 1982
Case URL: https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/e4b828959488e9832ab31f883aae6aab
Case Summary: Holding that summary did not fail to explain the fiscal impact of the initiative; references to the “Southern Colorado Economic Development District” in the titles, summary, and submission clause were not misleading; titles, summary, and submission clause were not invalid for failure to accurately reflect the true intent of the initiative; and the Board did not act in excess of its jurisdiction by deleting a paragraph from the initiative.
Case Name: Fabec v. Beck
Citation: 922 P.2d 330 (Colo. 1996)
Year: 1996
Case URL: https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/c5be6ab4bb2b1b003a8eb6c361f9ef05
Case Summary: Holding that no administrative review of Secretary's determination concerning sufficiency of signatures is required before protestor can seek judicial relief; it was proper for Secretary to combine valid signatures determined by line-by-line examination of both the original petition and the addendum rather using a random sampling method; substantial compliance is standard applied in assessing effect of signature deficiencies; discrepancies in circulator's date of signing and date of notary acknowledgement made affected petitions invalid; petition that contained altered date next to circulator's signature was invalid; changes to circulator's signing date did not constitute substantial compliance; there was substantial compliance with notarized affidavit requirement; and there was substantial compliance with signature requirements despite omission of signing date from one circulator affidavit.
Case Name: McClellan v. Meyer
Citation: 900 P.2d 24 (Colo. 1995)
Year: 1995
Case URL: https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/a5f1c0153984667fa4c030bcb492607e
Case Summary: Holding that Secretary did not violate State Constitution by hiring temporary personnel to examine signatures; Secretary's failure to inform proponents of number of insufficient signatures on petitions and exact grounds for insufficiency was not failure to comply with the statute; Secretary failed to comply with applicable statutes when she invalidated signatures based upon inclusion or exclusion of street directional or apartment number from either petition or master voting list; Secretary did not fail to comply with applicable statutes when she invalidated signatures of signers who listed post office boxes instead of residential addresses; discrepancies between dates on which circulators signed petitions and dates on which notaries executed petitions did not invalidate signatures; Secretary properly rejected signatures designating “junior” or “senior” when designation was omitted from either petition or master voting list; and Secretary properly disqualified petitions circulated by nonregistered voters.
Case Name: Billings v. Buchanan
Citation: 555 P.2d 176 (Colo. 1976)
Year: 1976
Case URL: https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/72e09f8c466596cf27bb2ba94dce8687
Case Summary: Holding that statutory procedures for protesting an initiative petition were sufficient to protect the public from fraud and abuse of the election process and that statutory provisions implementing the initiative and referendum right of the people were to be liberally construed to allow issues on the ballot.
Out-of-State Cases
Federal Cases
Case Name: Buckley v. Am. Constitutional Law Found.
Citation: 525 U.S. 182
Federal District Court:
Year: 1999
Case URL: https://casetext.com/case/buckley-v-am-constitutional-law-found
Case Summary: Holding that Colorado statute requiring that initiative-petition circulators be registered voters violated First Amendment right to free speech; statute requiring that initiative-petition circulators wear identification badge bearing the circulator's name violated the same right; and statute requiring that initiative proponents report names and addresses of all paid circulators and amount paid to each circulator violated the same.
Case Name: Grant v. Meyer
Citation: 828 F.2d 1446 (10th Cir. 1987)
Federal Circuit Court: 10th Circuit Court
Year: 1987
Case URL: https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/cc9b3082505ffe71185ac2255e28a741
Case Summary: Holding that a ban on solicitors' compensation violated the First Amendment due to its attendant restrictions on political speech. The court applied strict scrutiny, and held that the government interest is better served with others measures.