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Flaw in Colorado election laws

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Contributed by: Kristal Griffith on 10/27/2008

DU research center finds a costly flaw in Colorado election laws

DENVER-A last-minute deal resulting in the withdrawal of four proposals from this year's ballot has highlighted a costly flaw in Colorado's election laws, according to a new report from the University of Denver's Center for Colorado's Economic Future (CCEF). The flaw is that the deadline for withdrawing ballot proposals falls after the sequence for verifying petition signatures, certifying the election ballot, publishing the text of the measures in newspapers throughout the state, and preparing and mailing the state's "Blue Book" voter guide to every voter household.

The CCEF report, available for download at www.du.edu/economicfuture, analyzes how much it cost Colorado's citizens and businesses to examine signatures for Amendments 53, 55, 56, and 57, publish the amendments throughout the state, and print and mail them in the state's voter guide.

"If the deadline for withdrawing ballot proposals fell before these other deadlines, Colorado state government would have saved over $300,000 in election expenses," says Charles Brown, director of the CCEF. "It appears that the deadline for withdrawing the ballot proposals provided a strong incentive for business and organized labor interests to strike a compromise to withdraw the four amendments in exchange for business interests agreeing to oppose Amendment 47, the so-called right-to-work amendment. It seems reasonable to assume that if the deadline fell in late August or early September, the compromise would have been reached sooner and the state would have saved a significant amount of public funds. Business and labor interests were playing by the rules, but the rules allowed public funds to be wasted this year, and more could be wasted in the future if this problem is not fixed."

In addition to the unnecessary spending, concern has been expressed over voter confusion arising from the four amendments appearing on the ballot even though they were withdrawn.

The center was created in 2007 after DU's Colorado Economic Futures Panel (CEFP) completed its work in January 2006. The panel spent more than a year examining the fiscal health of Colorado's state and local governments and their ability to sustain fundamental public investments appropriate to the state's long-term economic vitality. Establishing a permanent center to study the state's economic future was a recommendation from the CEFP.

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Submitted By: Richard Myers

posted on 10/28/2008 @ 10:41:23 AM

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The expenditures might have been avoided if there was a requirement that amendments be truthful. Amendment 47, which triggered this entire ballot episode is an example of deception for political purposes. Specifically, Amendment 47 includes language, and is being promoted as, a solution to "forced union membership". But under federal and state law, there is no such thing as forced union membership. Channel Nine News acknowledged this when they fact-checked an Amendment 47 political ad and found, "This is false." http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=101957&catid=188 Why is there a do nothing provision in 47? Backers have angered voters with this false assertion, thereby motivating them to vote for the measure. Perhaps voters will consider that this attempt to pass a so-called "right to work" amendment in order to suppress the wages of Colorado's working people has cost the state in more ways than one. richard myers IBEW retired

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Kristal Griffith

Denver , CO

Kristal Griffith has posted 38 stories and 0 comments since joining on 10/15/2007. Kristal Griffith 's average story rating is 5.

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