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Colorado Statutes § 1-12-108 Petition requirements - approval as to form - determination of sufficiency - protest - offenses

⤴ Up to Article 12: Recall and Vacancies in Office

Statute Text

(1) The petition shall be prepared and circulated pursuant to this part 1.
(1.5) No signature shall be counted that was placed on a petition prior to approval as to form of the petition by the designated election official pursuant to subsection (4) of this section or more than sixty days after the designated election official's approval as to form of the petition.
(2)
(a) The petition for the recall of an elected official may consist of one or more sheets, to be fastened together in the form of one petition section, but each side of the sheet that contains signatures of eligible electors shall contain the same heading and each petition section shall contain one sworn affidavit of the circulator. No petition shall contain the name of more than one person proposed to be recalled from office.
(b) The petition for recall may be circulated and signed in sections, and each section must contain a full and accurate copy of the warning as required by subsection (3)(b) of this section, the title in subsection (3)(c) of this section, the general statement as described in section 1-12-103 , the cost estimate required by subsection (3.5) of this section, the statement of the incumbent if provided pursuant to subsection (4)(a)(II) of this section, and appropriate columns or spaces for the information required in subsection (5)(b) of this section. Each petition section must designate, by name and address, a committee of up to three persons that represents the signers in all matters affecting the petition.
(3)
(a) A petition shall not be certified as sufficient unless it contains the required number of names of eligible electors. A designated election official shall not count the names of electors whose names appeared on a previous petition deemed sufficient for the recall of the same person and office.
(b) At the top of each side of each sheet that contains signatures of eligible electors shall be printed, in bold-faced type, the following:
WARNING:
IT IS AGAINST THE LAW:
For anyone to sign this petition with any name other than one's own or to knowingly sign one's name more than once for the same measure or to knowingly sign the petition when not a registered elector.
Do not sign this petition unless you are an eligible elector. To be an eligible elector you must be registered to vote and eligible to vote in (name of political subdivision) elections.
Do not sign this petition unless you have read or have had read to you the proposed recall measure in its entirety and understand its meaning.
(c) Directly following the warning in paragraph (b) of this subsection (3) shall be printed in bold-faced type the following:
Petition to recall (name of person sought to be recalled) from the office of (title of office).
(3.5) Prior to submitting a printer's proof of a petition for approval as to form, the committee shall notify the designated election official of the committee's intent to file a petition for approval as to form. Within three business days of receiving the notice, the designated election official shall provide the committee with an estimate of the costs of conducting the recall election. The cost estimate must be included in each petition section circulated.
(4)
(a)
(I) A petition shall not be circulated until the first printer's proof of the petition has been submitted to the designated election official and it has been approved as to form as meeting the requirements of this subsection (4). All sections of the petition must be prenumbered serially. The official with whom the petitions are to be filed pursuant to section 1-12-107 shall approve or disapprove a petition as to form by the close of the seventh business day following submission of the printer's proof of the proposed petition. On the day the designated election official approves the format, the designated election official shall mail or electronically submit written notice of the action taken to the committee and to the person whom the petition seeks to recall.
(II) Immediately upon receiving a printer's proof of a proposed petition for approval as to form, the designated election official shall notify the incumbent and provide the incumbent with a copy of the printer's proof. Within three business days of the notification, the incumbent may submit to the designated election official the statement described in section 1-12-112 (1) . If the incumbent timely submits the statement, the designated election official shall disapprove the petition as to form and shall provide the committee with a copy of the incumbent's statement with the notice of disapproval. The committee may resubmit the printer's proof of the proposed petition, which must include the incumbent's statement, for approval.
(b) If the form of the petition is not approved as to form, the designated election official shall provide specific reasons for the disapproval.
(c) Nothing in this section limits the ability of the committee to correct a petition as to form in accordance with the specific reasons set forth pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subsection (4) and to submit the corrected petition for review and approval or disapproval in the same manner as provided in this part 1 for an original submission.
(d) The designated election official shall notify the committee at the time a petition format is approved that the committee must register an issue committee pursuant to section 1-45-108 (3.3) if two hundred or more petition sections are printed or accepted in connection with circulation of the petition.
(5)
(a) Every state petition shall be signed only by eligible electors.
(b) Every petition for a county or school district officer shall be signed only by active registered electors who are not required to submit a copy of their identification with their mail ballot under section 1-7.5-107 (3.5).
(c) Unless physically unable, all electors shall sign their own signature and shall print their names, respective residence addresses, including the street number and name, the city or town, the county, and the date of signature. Each signature on a petition must be made, to the extent possible, using a pen. If, while verifying a signer's information against the registration records in accordance with subsection (8) of this section, the designated election official finds that the signer provided his or her mailing address rather than his or her residence address, the designated election official may accept the signature line as valid if the designated election official is able to locate the signer's record in the statewide voter registration database and determines that the signer was eligible to sign the petition.
(d) Any person, except a circulator, may assist an elector who is physically unable to sign the petition in completing the information on the petition as required by law. On the petition immediately following the name of the elector receiving assistance, the person providing assistance shall sign, provide the person's address, and state that the assistance was given to the elector.
(6)
(a) No person may circulate a recall petition unless the person is a citizen of the United States and at least eighteen years of age.
(b) A circulator who is not paid for circulating a recall petition shall display an identification badge that includes the words "VOLUNTEER CIRCULATOR" in bold-faced type that is clearly legible.
(c) A circulator who is paid for circulating a recall petition shall display an identification badge that includes the words "PAID CIRCULATOR" in bold-faced type that is clearly legible and the name and telephone number of the individual employing the circulator.
(d) The secretary of state shall make available to recall petition circulators the training developed for petition circulators under section 1-40-112 (3) . The recall committee shall inform paid and volunteer circulators of the availability of this training program as one manner of complying with the requirement in the circulator's affidavit that a circulator read and understand the laws pertaining to petition circulation.
(e) To each petition section must be attached a signed, notarized, and dated affidavit executed by the person who circulated the petition section that must include the following:
(I) The circulator's printed name, the address at which the circulator resides, including the street name and number, the city or town, the county, and the date the circulator signed the affidavit;
(II) That the circulator has read and understands the laws governing the circulation of recall petitions;
(III) That the circulator was a citizen of the United States and at least eighteen years of age at the time the section of the petition was circulated;
(IV) That the circulator circulated the section of the petition;
(V) That each signature appearing on the petition was made in the circulator's presence;
(VI) That each signature on the petition is, to the best of the circulator's knowledge, the signature of the person whose name it purports to be and was made by someone eligible to sign the recall petition;
(VII) That the circulator has not paid or will not in the future pay and that the circulator believes that no other person has paid or will pay, directly or indirectly, any money or other thing of value to any signer for the purpose of inducing or causing such signer to sign the petition;
(VIII) That the circulator understands that the circulator can be prosecuted for violating the laws governing the circulation of recall petitions; and
(IX) That the circulator understands that failing to make himself or herself available to be deposed and to provide testimony in the event of a protest shall invalidate the petition section if it is challenged on the grounds of circulator fraud.
(f) A notary public shall not notarize an affidavit required by subsection (6)(e) of this section unless:
(I) The circulator is in the physical presence of the notary public; and
(II) The circulator has dated the affidavit and fully and accurately completed all of the personal information on the affidavit.
(g) As part of any court proceeding or hearing conducted by the designated election official related to a protest of all or a part of a petition section, the circulator of such petition section may be required by the designated election official, hearing officer, or court to make himself or herself available to be deposed and to testify in person, by telephone, or by any other means permitted under the Colorado rules of civil procedure. Except as provided in subsection (6)(h) of this section, the petition section that is the subject of the protest is invalid if a circulator fails to comply with the requirements set forth in this subsection (6)(g). This section only applies to a protest that includes an allegation of circulator fraud that is pled with particularity regarding:
(I) Forgery of a registered elector's signature;
(II) Circulation of a petition section, in whole or part, by anyone other than the person who signed the affidavit attached to the petition section;
(III) Use of a false circulator name or address in the affidavit; or
(IV) Payment of money or other things of value to any person for the purpose of inducing the person to sign the petition.
(h) If a designated election official, hearing officer, or court finds that the circulator of a petition section is unable to be deposed or to testify at trial or a hearing because the circulator has died, become mentally incompetent, or become medically incapacitated and physically unable to testify, the provisions of subsection (6)(g) of this section do not apply to invalidate a petition section circulated by the circulator.
(i) The recall committee shall maintain a list of the names, addresses, and section numbers circulated for all circulators of the petition and the names and section numbers of the notaries public who notarized the petition sections. A copy of the list must be filed with the designated election official along with the petition. If a copy of the list is not filed, the designated election official shall prepare the list and charge the members of the recall committee a fee. The fee must be set at an amount that covers the cost of the preparation of the list. Once filed or prepared by the designated election official, the list is a public record for the purposes of article 72 of title 24.
(j) The designated election official shall not accept for filing any section of a petition that does not have attached to it the notarized affidavit required by this section. Any signature added to a section of a petition after the notarized affidavit has been executed is invalid.
(7) (Deleted by amendment, L. 97 , p. 1062 , § 5 , effective May 27, 1997.)
(7.5) The petition may be filed at any time during the sixty-day period after the designated election official's approval as to form of the petition as specified in this section. The committee shall file all sections of a petition simultaneously, and any section of a petition submitted after the petition is filed is invalid and has no force or effect.
(8)
(a) Promptly after the petition has been filed, the designated election official for the political subdivision shall review all petition information and verify the information against the registration records. The designated election official shall verify signatures and provide an opportunity to cure in the same manner as section 1-4-908 (1.5). The secretary of state shall establish guidelines for verifying petition entries. Within twenty-four hours after the petition is delivered, the designated election official shall notify the incumbent by mail or e-mail of the delivery. Following verification of the petition by the designated election official, the designated election official shall make a copy of the petition available to the incumbent sought to be recalled. Nothing in this section prescribes the form in which the petition must be maintained by the designated election official or prevents a designated election official from collecting fees for copies of the petition in accordance with the "Colorado Open Records Act", part 2 of article 72 of title 24.
(b) Any disassembly of a section of the petition prior to filing that has the effect of separating the affidavit from the signatures renders that section of the petition invalid and of no force and effect.
(c)
(I) After review, and no later than twenty-eight days after the initial filing of the petition, the designated election official shall notify the committee and the incumbent of the number of valid signatures and whether the petition appears to be sufficient or insufficient.
(II) Repealed.
(II.5) During the review of any recall petition, the designated election official shall notify the committee of any errors and insufficiencies regarding circulator affidavits. Upon the receipt of such a notification, the committee has five calendar days from the date of receipt of the notice to cure the errors and insufficiencies described in the notice. To cure a circulator affidavit, the committee must provide the designated election official with a new circulator affidavit that corrects the errors of the previously submitted affidavit.
(III) If the petition is verified as insufficient, the designated election official shall provide the specific reasons for the determination to the committee by mail or e-mail. The determination may be appealed within five days by the committee in the manner provided in section 1-1-113 to the district court in the county in which the petition was filed. No person other than those on the committee has standing to appeal a determination that the petition is insufficient.
(9)
(a)
(I) A recall petition that has been verified by the designated election official is sufficient unless a protest in writing under oath is filed in the office of the designated election official by an eligible elector within fifteen days after the designated election official has determined the sufficiency of the petition under subsection (8)(c) of this section.
(II) The protest must set forth specific grounds for the protest. Grounds include failure of any portion of a petition or circulator affidavit to meet the requirements of this article 12 or any conduct on the part of petition circulators that substantially misleads persons signing the petition. The designated election official shall mail and e-mail a copy of the protest to the committee, together with a notice fixing a time for hearing the protest not less than five nor more than ten days after the notice is mailed and e-mailed.
(III) Every hearing shall be heard before the designated election official with whom the protest is filed or a designee of the designated election official appointed as the hearing officer. The testimony in every hearing must be under oath. The hearing must be summary and not subject to delay and must be concluded within thirty days after the protest is filed with the designated election official, and the result shall be certified to the committee.
(b) The party filing a protest has the burden of sustaining the protest by a preponderance of the evidence. The decision upon matters of substance is open to review, if application is made within five days, in the manner provided in section 1-1-113 , to the district court in the county in which the petition was filed. The remedy in all cases must be summary, and the decision of any court having jurisdiction is final and not subject to review by any other court; except that the supreme court, in the exercise of its discretion, may review any judicial proceeding as provided in section 1-1-113 .
(c) Repealed.
(d)
(I) At any time before the designated election official submits a certificate of sufficiency pursuant to section 1-12-111 , any signer may request that his or her name be stricken from the petition by filing with the designated election official a written request that his or her signature be stricken. If the request is delivered to the designated election official through the United States mail, it is deemed delivered to the designated election official on the date shown by the cancellation mark on the envelope containing the request received by the member of the committee or the designated election official. If the request is submitted to the designated election official by e-mail, it is deemed delivered on the date and time it is shown to be sent. If the request is delivered to the designated election official in any other manner, it is deemed delivered to the designated election official on the date of delivery and stamped receipt by the designated election official.
(II) If a written request is delivered before the designated election official notifies the committee of the number of valid signatures on a petition in accordance with subsection (8)(c)(I) of this section, the election official shall strike the signature of the signer who filed the request. If the written request is delivered before the petition is filed, the election official shall strike the signature of the signer who filed the request promptly upon the filing of the petition.
(III) If a written request is delivered after the designated election official notifies the committee of the number of valid signatures but before the date a protest is filed in accordance with subsection (9)(a) of this section or the date the designated election official submits the certificate of sufficiency in accordance with section 1-12-111 , the designated election official shall strike the signature of the signer who filed the request. If striking a signature in accordance with this subsection (9)(d)(III) changes the determination of sufficiency, the designated election official shall notify the committee and the incumbent that the petition is verified insufficient as of the date the signature is struck. The determination of insufficiency may be appealed in accordance with subsection (8)(c)(III) of this section.
(IV) If a written request is delivered after the date a protest is filed in accordance with subsection (9)(a) of this section, the designated election official shall strike the signature as part of the protest proceedings.
(V) If a signer submits a written request to strike the signer's signature from the petition to any member of the committee at any time before the designated election official submits the certificate of sufficiency pursuant to section 1-12-111 , the member of the committee shall immediately provide the request to the designated election official. The request is deemed delivered to the designated election official on the day that the member of the committee received it. A member of the committee who fails to comply with this subsection (9)(d)(V) commits a misdemeanor punishable in accordance with section 1-13-111 .
(10) Any person who willfully destroys, defaces, mutilates, or suppresses a petition, or who willfully neglects to file or delays delivery of a petition, or who conceals or removes a petition from the possession of the person authorized by law to have custody of it, or who aids, counsels, procures, or assists any person in doing any of the above acts upon conviction shall be punished as provided in section 1-13-111 .

History

Amended by 2021 Ch. 462 , § 1 , eff. 3/1/2022 .

Amended by 2021 Ch. 282 , § 56 , eff. 6/21/2021 .

Amended by 2019 Ch. 326 , § 46 , eff. 8/2/2019 .

Amended by 2018 Ch. 262 , § 40 , eff. 5/29/2018 .

Amended by 2014 Ch. 170 , § 4 , eff. 5/9/2014 .

L. 92: Entire article R&RE, p. 795, § 15, effective 1/1/1993 . L. 93: Entire section amended, p. 1435, § 119, effective July 1. L. 95: Entire section amended, p. 845, § 72, effective July 1. L. 97: (4), (7), (8)(c), (9)(a), and (9)(c) amended and (7.5) added, p. 1062, § 5, effective May 27. L. 99: (9)(c) amended and (9)(d) added, p. 95, § 1, effective September 1. L. 2001: (2)(a) amended, p. 1004, § 14, effective August 8. L. 2002: (7.5) amended, p. 1640, § 32, effective June 7. L. 2007: (6)(a) and (6)(b) amended, p. 1981, § 32, effective August 3. L. 2012: (1), (2), (3)(a), (3)(b), (4), (5)(c), (6)(b), (6)(c), (7.5), (8), (9)(a), (9)(c), and (9)(d)(I) amended and (1.5) added, (HB 12-1293), ch. 1040, p. 1040, § 6, effective May 29. L. 2014: (6)(b) and (8)(c)(II) amended, (8)(c)(II.5) added, and (9)(c) repealed, (SB 14-158), ch. 618, p. 618, § 4, effective May 9. L. 2018: (9)(d) amended, (SB 18-233), ch. 1617, p. 1617, § 40, effective May 29. L. 2019: (6)(a), (8)(a), and (8)(c)(II.5) amended, (HB 19-1278), ch. 3034, p. 3034, § 46, effective August 2.

Editor's Note

(1) Section 85 of chapter 282 (SB 21-250), Session Laws of Colorado 2021, provides that the act changing this section applies to elections conducted on or after June 21, 2021.
(2) Section 803(2) of chapter 462 (SB 21-271), Session Laws of Colorado 2021, provides that the act changing subsection (10) applies to offenses committed on or after March 1, 2022.

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Prior Versions of This Statute