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Law looks to end campaign fraud
Herald Denver Bureau
Ritter
Last year, voters considered 14 citizen attempts to amend the state constitution or statutes. Most campaigns used paid circulators to get the 76,000 signatures needed to put their question on the ballot.
House Bill 1326, which Ritter signed Friday, forbids campaigns from paying their petition workers based on the number of signatures they get. Also, people who successfully challenge the validity of signatures in court could sue the campaign to recover attorney's fees.
Sponsors said some campaigns last year used forged signatures, fake addresses and underage petition workers.
"Ballot initiatives can no longer be defined by abuse and fraud. This is something we can be proud of, and we are ready for 2010," said Senate President Brandon Shaffer, one of the bill's sponsors.
HB 1326 makes several other changes:•Measures that change ordinary laws will be called "propositions." Changes to the state constitution still will be called "amendments."
•Petitions must carry a label to warn people that their signature will help place the question on the ballot.
•Companies that employ petition circulators must be licensed by the secretary of state.
•People who collect 100 or more signatures will have to attend a training session.
•Citizens will have the right to withdraw their signatures after they have signed a petition.
Former Rep. Douglas Bruce opposed the bill when the Legislature was considering it this spring. It will limit the citizens' right to petition, and campaigns shouldn't have to get a license from the secretary of state to exercise their First Amendment rights, he said.
The bill passed on wide bipartisan margins - 54-11 in the House and 28-5 in the Senate. Southwest Colorado's legislators - Democratic Sen. Jim Isgar of Hesperus and Republican Reps. Ellen Roberts of Durango and Scott Tipton of Cortez - voted "yes."
Ritter also signed five other election bills Friday, including ones to require new voting machines to use paper ballots, allow counties to use mail ballots for primary elections and let Coloradans register to vote online.
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