Code of Colorado Regulations
1505 - Department of State
1505 - Secretary of State
8 CCR 1505-1 - ELECTIONS
15 - Preparation, Filing, and Verification of Petitions
Universal Citation: 8 CO Code Regs 1505-1 § 15
Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 23, December 10, 2024
15.1 The following requirements apply to candidate, statewide initiative, recall, minor party creation, and referendum petitions, unless otherwise specified.
15.1.1 Petition template for state petitions
(a) Petition proponents or their designees
must request their petition format by sending an email with the information
requested by the Department to draft a petition format to
ballot.access@coloradosos.gov. Once that information is provided, the
Department of State will return a petition format with the information
included. Petition proponents must then print a physical copy of the petition
provided by the Department of State and return a copy, scanned image, or
picture of the printed format for final approval by the Department of
State.
(b) After approval of the
petition format as to form, proponents must print all petition sections in
accordance with the Secretary of State's petition-printing guidelines. The
Department of State will reject any petition sections circulated prior to
receiving a formal approval letter for the petition format.
(c) Any signature affixed to a petition
section that does not conform to the requirements of this Rule 15.1.1 is not
valid.
(d) Petition proponents for
initiative petitions must provide a Word version of the final text of the
measure to the Secretary of State.
15.1.2 Petition submission
(a) The Department of State or DEO will not
accept or count additional signatures after the initial submission of the
petition, even if additional signatures are offered before the
deadline.
(b) The Department of
State or DEO will inspect each petition section for evidence of disassembly. If
it appears that the section was disassembled, the Secretary or DEO will reject
all signatures in the section.
(c)
The Department of State or DEO will not consider a signer line as a reviewable
line, if the line is incomplete or partially crossed out and the information
missing or crossed out is the name, signature, or address of the signer. If a
line contains a signature that is legible, but has no printed name, it is
considered reviewable.
(d) The
Department of State or DEO will not review lines that are blank or completely
crossed-out.
(e) If the number of
lines submitted is less than the number of signatures required to access the
ballot, the Department of State or DEO will issue a statement of insufficiency
and will not review signer lines or apply duplicates to future candidate
petition submissions for the same office or recall petitions of the same
officeholder.
(f) The Department of
State or DEO will review and process candidate petitions for the same office in
the order in which they are received.
15.1.3 Circulator affidavit
(a) If a petition section does not have a
completed circulator affidavit, the Secretary of State or DEO will reject the
entire section.
(b) If a petition
section does not have a completed notary clause, or if the date of the notary
clause differs from the date the circulator signed the affidavit, the Secretary
of State or DEO will reject the entire section.
(c) If a state candidate, recall proponent,
or initiative proponent is curing a circulator affidavit under section
1-4-912(2),
C.R.S., the candidate or proponent must use a form approved by the Secretary of
State.
15.1.4 Verifying
individual entries
(a) Staff will check each
individual entry against the information contained in SCORE.
(b) Staff will create and maintain a master
record of each accepted and rejected entry, along with the reason code for each
rejected entry.
(c) If an entry
does not match the signer's current information in SCORE, staff must check the
signer's information in SCORE as of the date the signer signed the
petition.
(d) Secretary of State or
DEO staff will reject the entry if:
(1) The
name on the entry is not in SCORE;
(2) The middle initial or middle name on the
entry does not match the middle initial or middle name in SCORE;
(3) The address on the entry does not match
the residential address in SCORE;
(4) The entry address contains information,
such as a number, apartment number, or street direction that contradicts the
SCORE address;
(5) The signer
completed the entry before the designated election official approved the
petition format;
(6) The signer was
not an eligible elector at the time he or she completed the entry;
(7) The signer completed the entry after the
date on the circulator affidavit;
(8) Evidence exists that some other person
assisted the signer in completing the entry but no statement of assistance
accompanies the entry;
(9) The name
and signature on the entry is illegible and cannot be verified in
SCORE;
(10) The entry is a
duplicate of a previously accepted entry on the same petition; or
(11) For a candidate petition where an
elector may sign only one petition for the same office, the entry is a
duplicate of a previously accepted entry on a petition that was declared
sufficient or insufficient after lines were reviewed for the same
office.
(12) The signer's
information appears outside of a numbered signature block on a petition
section.
(13) For a candidate
petition, the address on the entry does not match the current residential or
mailing address for the elector in SCORE.
(e) The Department of State or DEO staff will
not use any of the following discrepancies as the sole reason to reject an
entry:
(1) The name on an entry matches or is
substantially similar to the information in SCORE, or if the signature on an
entry is a common variant of the name;
(2) A middle initial or middle name is
present on the entry but not in SCORE, or present in SCORE but not on the
entry;
(3) A namesuffix is present
on the entry but not in SCORE, or present in SCORE but not on the entry and
only one person with that name is registered to vote at that address;
(4) For a candidate petition, a
name suffix is present on the entry but not in SCORE, or present in SCORE but
not on the entry, more than one person with that name is registered to vote at
the same address, but the signature matches for one person registered to vote
at that address;
(5) The printed
name is missing or illegible but the signature can be read;
(6) The address on the entry is missing an
apartment letter or number or a street direction, or the address entry contains
an apartment letter or number or a street direction that is missing in the
voter registration record;
(7) The
city or county name is missing, abbreviated, or wrong;
(8) For candidate and recall petitions, the
address provided did not match the current residence address information in
SCORE, but did match the current mailing address information in
SCORE;
(9) On a signer line, the
date is missing but a line above and below has an acceptable date;
(10) For Secretary of State staff reviewed
petitions only, the year of the date is missing or wrong; or
(11) Information required for the signer is
present on a petition line but is written in the wrong field.
15.2 Petition entity license, registration, filing, and circulation
15.2.1 A petition entity that intends to pay
petition circulators must obtain a petition entity license, pay a fee, and
register with the Secretary of State's Office before circulating initiative,
candidate, and recall petitions. The license application must include:
(a) The petition entity's name, address,
telephone number, and email address;
(b) The designated agent's name;
(c) The name of all owners and chief officers
of the entity;
(d) For those
applications submitted after December 1, 2025, the following information
regarding petition circulators:
(1) The name,
address, and signature of any petition circulators the entity has hired or
contracted with to circulate a petition in Colorado;
(2) The petitions each circulator will
circulate in Colorado; and
(3)
Proof that each circulator has completed the circulator training offered by the
Secretary of State within the last year as evidence that the circulator has
read and understood laws pertaining to petition circulation; and
(e) An affirmation that:
(1) The designated agent has read and
understands Article 4, Article 12, and Article 40 of Title 1, C.R.S.;
(2) The designated agent has
completed the Secretary of State's circulator training program;
(3) The petition entity has or will provide
to all circulators, paid or unpaid, the circulator training offered by the
Colorado Secretary of State as one way for the circulator to comply with the
requirement that a circulator read and understand the laws pertaining to
petition circulation;
(4) The
entity, none of its owners or chief officers, and no entity or principal of a
petition entity that the entity has or will contract with, has ever been found
in a judicial or administrative hearing in Colorado or any other state of
authorizing or knowingly permitting:
(A)
Forgery of a registered elector's signature;
(B) Circulation of a petition section, in
whole or in part, by anyone other than the circulator;
(C) Use of a false circulator name or address
in a circulator affidavit;
(D)
Payment of money or a thing of value to any person for the purpose of inducing
the person to sign or withdraw his or her name from a petition; or
(E) A notary public's notarization of a
circulator affidavit outside of the physical presence of the circulator or
without the production of the required identification for notarization of a
petition section; and
(5)
Neither the entity nor its owners or officers have been found in a judicial or
administrative hearing in Colorado or any other state of:
(A) Violating a petition law;
(B) Committing election fraud;
(C) Committing any other election offense;
or
(D) Committing an offense with
an element of fraud.
15.2.2 Before compensating a circulator, the
designated agent must register with the Secretary of State's Office by
submitting a signed form that includes a list of the proposed initiatives,
candidate or candidate committee's name, minor party petition, or recall
petition the petition entity will circulate. A designated agent must complete
the Secretary of State's circulator training program prior to applying for a
license. For the purpose of this Rule compensating a circulator includes
providing compensation to a circulator for circulating a petition in Colorado
or entering into an agreement with a circulator to provide compensation for
circulating a petition in Colorado.
15.2.3 If a petition entity fails to register
a proposed initiative, recall petition, or candidate petition over any two-year
period, the license expires. The Secretary of State will notify a petition
entity that its license has expired within 30 days after the date of
expiration.
15.2.4 A petition
entity license is only valid for two years from the date the license was
approved by the Secretary of State. Once a license expires, a petition entity
must submit a new license application and fee.
15.2.5 In accordance with sections
1-4-905.5(4)(a)
and 1-40-135(5)(a),
C.R.S., a petition entity must update their entity license no later than 20
days after a change to any information provided in their initial application.
Beginning December 1, 2025, this includes the information required by Rule
15.2.1(d) for circulators hired by the entity after the entity has obtained
their license.
15.3 Statewide initiative petition circulation
15.3.1 Petition circulation may begin after
the title board's final decision, including disposition of any rehearing
motion, after the time for filing a rehearing motion, and after the Secretary
of State has approved the petition format.
15.3.2 The petition circulator must provide a
permanent residence address on the circulator affidavit.
(a) For purposes of Article 40 of Title 1,
C.R.S., and this Rule, a circulator's permanent "residence" means their
principal or primary home or place of abode in which a circulator's habitation
is fixed and to which the circulator, whenever absent, has the present
intention of returning after a departure or absence, regardless of the duration
of the absence. A permanent "residence" is a permanent building or part of a
building and may include a house, condominium, apartment, room in house, or
mobile home. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this Rule, a vacant lot,
business address, or post office box is not a permanent "residence".
(b) A homeless circulator must provide the
address or location where they are living the date the affidavit is signed. The
circulator must provide a physical location they return to regularly which may
include a park, campground, vacant lot, business address or any other physical
location; a post office box may not be provided.
(c) For the purposes of sections
1-40-106(4)(b),
1-40-111(3)(a),
1-40-121(2)(a),
and 1-40-135(2)(c),
C.R.S., a circulator's permanent residence address that does not comply with
this Rule 15.3.2 is a "false address".
15.4 Statewide initiative petition receipt by Secretary of State
15.4.1 The Department of
State will not accept a petition that lists designated representatives other
than those listed on the affidavit of designated representatives filed with the
state title board.
15.4.2 Upon
receipt of a petition, Secretary of State staff will consecutively number
petition sections.
15.4.3 Staff
will consecutively number each line on each petition section. For purposes of
this Rule, "line" means the block of information that contains the last name,
first name, middle initial, county, signing date, street address, city, and
signature of a petition signer.
15.5 Statewide initiative petition verification.
15.5.1 Verification by random
sample.
(a) Staff will create a record for
each entry on the petition and tally the total number of entries.
(b) The database will generate a series of
random numbers equal to 4,000 signatures or five percent of the total number of
signatures, whichever is greater. Staff will review the randomly selected
signature lines in accordance with section
1-40-116, C.R.S., and this Rule.
Staff will maintain a master record of each accepted and rejected entry, along
with the reason code for each rejected entry.
15.6 Signature verification on state candidate and recall petitions
15.6.1 The
Department of State will compare the signature on each petition entry with the
elector's signature in SCORE in accordance with the Secretary of State's
Signature Verification Guide. The Department of State may use an automated
signature verification device.
(a) If the
signatures match and the entry is otherwise valid, the Department of State must
accept the entry.
(b) If upon
initial review the signatures do not match, The Department of State must
conduct further review of the entry. A team of two staff members who are not
affiliated with the same political party, or who are unaffiliated, must review
the signatures, conduct additional research in SCORE if necessary, and, unless
both staff members agree that the signatures do not match, accept the entry if
it is otherwise valid. In the event that a staff member is not registered to
vote, that staff member will be considered unaffiliated for the purpose of this
Rule.
15.7 Referendum petitions
15.7.1 This Rule applies
to statewide referendum petitions under Article V, Section 1 (3) of the
Colorado Constitution.
15.7.2
Except where this Rule states otherwise, any statutory or constitutional
provision that applies specifically to initiative petitions also applies to
referendum petitions.
15.7.3
Proponents may submit a referendum petition to the Secretary of State for
approval at any time after the General Assembly has passed the bill. The
Secretary of State will not issue final approval of the referendum petition
form until the bill has become law under Article IV, Section 11 of the Colorado
Constitution.
15.7.4 Each
referendum petition section must consist of the following, in the order listed:
(a) The warning as specified in section
1-40-110, C.R.S.;
(b) The heading "Referendum Petition",
followed by the demand upon the Secretary of State in substantially the
following form, in which the underlined material is only for example:
"To: The Honorable _______________, Secretary of State of the State of Colorado
We, the undersigned electors of the State of Colorado, do hereby respectfully petition, order, and demand that Sections 1 to 12, inclusive (being the entire Act), of House Bill No. 02-1010, by Representatives Abel, Baker, and Cain, and Senators Smith, Thomas, and Jones, entitled "Concerning registration requirements for motor vehicles, and, in connection therewith, authorizing two- and five-year registration periods and authorizing discretionary vehicle identification number inspections, and making an appropriation", passed by the Sixty-third General Assembly of the State of Colorado, at its regular session in the year 2002, shall be submitted to the voters for their adoption or rejection at the next biennial regular general election, to be held on Tuesday, the 5th day of November, 2002, and each of the signers of this petition says:
I sign this petition in
my own proper person only, and I am a registered elector of the State of
Colorado, my residence address and the date of my signing this petition are
correctly written immediately after my name, and I do hereby designate the
following persons to represent me in all matters affecting this
petition:";
(c) The name
and mailing address of two persons who are designated to represent the signers
thereof in all matters;
(d) The
ballot title and submission clause;
(e) The text of the Act, or the item,
section, or part of the Act, on which the referendum is demanded;
(f) Succeeding pages that each contain the
warning, the ballot title, and submission clause, and ruled lines numbered
consecutively for signatures; and
(g) A final page that contains the
circulator's affidavit required by section
1-40-111(2),
C.R.S.
15.7.5 A
referendum petition section must include only the matters required by Article
40, Title 1, C.R.S., and this Rule, and no extraneous material.
15.7.6 The ballot title must consist of the
title of the act on which the referendum is demanded, followed by the bill
number, in substantially the following form, in which the underlined material
is only for example:
"An Act concerning registration requirements for motor vehicles, and, in connection therewith, authorizing two- and five-year registration periods and authorizing discretionary vehicle identification number inspections, and making an appropriation, being House Bill No. 02-1010."
15.7.7 When
referendum is demanded on less than an entire Act of the General Assembly, the
ballot title and submission clause must consist of the ballot title preceded by
words in substantially the following form, in which the underscored material is
only for example, and ending in a question mark:
"Shall Section 3 (concerning definition of terms) and Section 4 (eliminating licensing requirements for motor vehicle dealers) of the following Act of the General Assembly be approved:" The material in parentheses shall correctly and fairly summarize the subject or the effect of the portion of the Act referenced.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Colorado may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy and
Terms of Service apply.
