Energy measures fail to make November ballot
Backers of No. 75 and 78 fall short
DENVER, August 29, 2016 -- Two proposed ballot measures aimed at adding more limitations on oil and natural gas drilling in Colorado failed to make the November ballot because supporters didn’t collect enough valid voter signatures, Secretary of State Wayne Williams announced today.
Citizens who are trying to get an issue on the ballot must submit 98,492 voter signatures. Supporters of the two measures collected more than that for each proposal, but not enough to compensate for the number of signatures that were rejected during the random sample. Initiative No. 75 would have given local governments the authority to regulate oil-and-gas development, including banning fracking. Initiative No. 78 called for a mandatory 2,500-foot setback around oil-and-gas operations.
The proponents have 30 days from today to appeal the decision to the Denver District Court.
The energy proposals were among nine citizen-initiated measures that were submitted for the November ballot. The other seven efforts were successful.
Petition signatures lines are reviewed by a separate state agency under the Department of Personnel and Administration. A 5-percent random sample must project the number of valid signatures to be greater than 110 percent of the total number of signatures required for placement on the ballot.
Of note: For No. 78, the petition processing team identified a petition section that contains several potentially forged signature lines. Although the Secretary of State does not conduct signature verification when reviewing petitions, our office has referred the questionable section to the Attorney General’s office for investigation. The section, numbered 2109, had no lines marked for review in the random sample.
Petition verification summary for No. 75:
| Total number of qualified signatures submitted | 107,232 |
| 5% of qualified signatures submitted (random sample) | 5,362 |
| Total number of entries accepted (valid) from the random sample | 3,982 |
| Total number of entries rejected (invalid) from the random sample | 1,380 |
| Number of projected valid signatures from the random sample | 79,634 |
| Total number of signatures required for placement on ballot | 98,492 |
| Projected percentage of required valid signatures | 80.85% |
Petition verification summary for No. 78:
| Total number of qualified signatures submitted | 106,626 |
| 5% of qualified signatures submitted (random sample) | 5,332 |
| Total number of entries accepted (valid) from the random sample | 3,856 |
| Total number of entries rejected (invalid) from the random sample | 1,476 |
| Number of projected valid signatures from the random sample | 77,109 |
| Total number of signatures required for placement on ballot | 98,492 |
| Projected percentage of required valid signatures | 78.29% |
Here’s a look at the citizen-initiated measures that made the ballot, including the number of submitted signatures and the projected percentage of required valid signatures:
No. 20, State health care system: 158,831 signatures, 110.80%
No. 101, State minimum wage: 189,419 signatures, 116.70%
No. 145, Medical aid in dying: 155,676 signatures, 110.44%
No. 96, Requirements for constitutional amendments: 183,691 signatures, 129%
No. 143, New cigarette and tobacco taxes: 161,412 signatures, 118.74%
No. 98, Primary elections: 147,707 signatures, 110.15%
No. 140, Presidential primary election: 152,213 signatures, 111.39%
Of note: A section of signatures for the minimum wage effort also was flagged for having potentially forged signatures, and was turned over to the attorney general for investigation.
Also on the ballot are two measures referred by the Colorado General Assembly: Amendment T, regarding servitude, and Amendment U, regarding property taxes. In addition, the Denver Metro Scientific and Cultural Facilities Board put Ballot Issue 4B (PDF), a sales-and-use tax measure, on ballots in the following metro counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Boulder, Denver, Douglas (except Castle Rock and Larkspur) and Jefferson.
To look at the statements of sufficiency for the other citizen measures, check out the Secretary of State news release archives. The statements for No. 75 and 78 are below.
