Fall ballot petitions
Money and/or volunteers
Primary voting ends June 30, and those races are appropriately getting most of the media attention.
In the meantime, Colorado is one of 24 states where citizens can put things on our fall election ballot. It is easier to do so in Colorado than in most states, but still not easy or cheap. Advocates must get 5% of voters from the last Secretary of State election, which is about 125,000 this year. In addition, if the initiative changes the state Constitution, there is a geographic component, where they must get 2% from each of the 35 state Senate districts.
Groups backed by big money can pay experienced firms that get signatures on the petitions (think Safeway doorway or parking area). More grassroot groups need to rely on volunteers to do that work. Due to inadequate addresses, information or mistakes, often nearly half of the signatures gathered are tossed out, making it necessary to get far more than the required minimum number. This 2022 CPR article has a nice discussion of the challenges involved.
The costs of getting these signatures is high. Ballotpedia, using 2021 Colorado information, estimates costs of about $7-10 per valid signatures, or about $1 million to get the requisite 125,000. This is a busier year than 2021, so the costs are no doubt higher. Some analysts suggest you need more like $2 million to be sure of getting on the ballot.
So, it isn’t clear yet which ideas we will vote on this fall, as some won’t get the signatures, and others will be pulled back for various other reasons.
The (left leaning) Bell Policy Center has a tool up, to tell citizens what they might be asked to sign for on these petitions. Some signature gatherings can be misleading, to try to get the maximum number to sign, by making the ideas perhaps seem less extreme than they really are. And, its hard to pay attention when you are carrying groceries and in a hurry. So, this tool is helpful.
The Bell tool divides these 19 proposals that might be on the ballot into categories of A) Constitutional rights (3); B) Funding and taxation (5); C) Ballot language (2); D) Redistricting (5); E) Separation from US government (4).