Colorado Voices
How a measure makes it onto Colorado's election ballot
Clip | 4m 23sVideo has Closed Captions
Here's how an initiative goes from an idea to a ballot measure
Colorado's ballot measures can be proposed by citizens or by the legislature. Here's how they make it on to your election ballot. Video by Andrea Kramar and Chase McCleary
Colorado Voices
How a measure makes it onto Colorado's election ballot
Clip | 4m 23sVideo has Closed Captions
Colorado's ballot measures can be proposed by citizens or by the legislature. Here's how they make it on to your election ballot. Video by Andrea Kramar and Chase McCleary
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipSo does that mean we can count on your vote in November?
-Yeah.
Sweet, let me give you a sticker.
One important way that we as American citizens have a direct influence on our democracy is by voting on ballot measures.
Colorado has passed some historic legislation by ballot measure over the years, from becoming the first state to legalize recreational marijuana A new state law takes effect in Colorado today.
Allowing recreational use of marijuana.
to establishing term limits, a concept adopted by the rest of the nation to very recently reintroducing wolves to the state.
We are bringing an endangered species back by public referendum.
No other state has used that as a technique.
Colorado voters can vote on statewide ballot measures during the general election in November and during what's called “coordinated elections” in odd years.
There are state, county and municipal ballot measures, so if you live in, say, Grand Junction, you could be voting on ballot measures that affect the city of Grand Junction, the County of Mesa, or the state of Colorado.
Ballot measures have been a part of Colorado history for more than a century.
In the early 1900s, a group called the Direct Legislation League believed the state legislature was too friendly to the railroad and timber industries, and rallied for a more direct form of democracy.
This group advocated for and created the ballot measure here.
Some of Colorado's earliest ballot measures established juvenile courts and an eight hour workday for those who worked in underground mines and mills.
Initiatives can make their way onto ballots in one of two ways: through the legislature, called a legislative referred measure, or through citizens called a citizen initiated measure.
Say I, a citizen, want to get a measure on Colorado's ballot to increase the tax on cigarettes by $2 per pack.
First, I need to file the text of my proposed measure with Legislative Council staff.
They'll hold a public hearing, review the initiative and ensure it's compliant with Colorado law.
If the Legislative Council staff approves the initiative, I then take the proposal to the Title Board.
They will make sure the measure covers a single subject, is brief and can be answered with a yes or no.
If the Title Board approves my measure, I then have six months to go and gather signatures.
I must collect about 125,000 ballot signatures.
Once I'm done collecting signatures, I submit them to the Secretary of State's office, who has 30 days to review them and make sure they're valid.
If all goes well, my measure will make it onto the November ballot.
Wahoo!
It will get assigned a number 1 through 99 if I'm proposing an amendment to the Constitution, or 100 to 199 if I'm proposing an amendment to state laws and regulations, which is the case here with my cigarette tax proposal.
When I go to vote, I'll likely see another set of measures on the ballot: those that were referred by the state legislature.
These measures will get letters instead of numbers and the number of letters depends on whether it's a proposed constitutional amendment or a statutory proposition that amends state law.
From the late 1800s until 2023, there have been 508 statewide ballot measures covering everything from abortion to alcohol to education.
Ballot measures can also come from counties or municipalities.
In Denver, voters voted in 2019 to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms.
Prop 122 decriminalized the personal possession, growing, sharing and use of so-called magic mushrooms.
And this year, Denver voters will decide whether, for example, to ban one of the nation's largest lamb slaughterhouses and processing facilities, located inside the city limits.
It takes care of, greater than 20% of our production in the United States.
So this would be a devastating blow to the industry.
A lot of important social justice movements have used ballot measures throughout the past, and we see them being a really important part of the future of animal rights.
Ballot measures, no matter what level of government they come from, give us a window into what issues Coloradans are thinking about in any given year.
Don't forget to vote this Election day, November 5th.
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