On August 7, the Colorado Libertarian Party, and a Democratic candidate, and a Libertarian candidate, jointly filed a lawsuit in state court to require the state to give more time for petitions, to get on the ballot in the September 10 recall elections. Colorado is holding recall elections on that date for State Senate district 3 (centered in Pueblo) and State Senate district 3 (Colorado Springs).
Colorado recalls work like California recalls. First the ballot asks the voter to decide whether to recall the office-holder. Below that, the ballot asks voters to vote for a new office-holder, in case the recall succeeds. To get on this part of the ballot, all candidates (including the individuals subject to the recall election) need 1,000 signatures. The State Constitution says such petitions are due 15 days before the election, but the Secretary of State is instead following a statute that contradicts the Constitution, and says the petitions are due 10 days after the Governor sets the date of the recall petition. Thus the petitions are due either on August 31 or on July 29, a significant difference.
The case is Libertarian Party of Colorado v Gessler, Denver district court, 13cv-33491. If the lawsuit does not succeed, the only candidates on the recall ballot in each district will be one Democrat (in each case, the office-holder subject to the recall) and one Republican. However, write-ins are allowed. The two Senators being recalled are Angela Giron in the Third District, and John Morse in the Eleventh District. Here is the complaint. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
Good for them!!! 🙂
In contrast to earlier constitutional challenges seeking to overturn the Recall elections in their entirety (which this complaint expressly does not seek to do), the ballot access complaint appears to rely on solid precedent in case law, citing a recent (2010) Denver District Court ruling (Hayes v. Buescher, 10CV6078) as well as earlier (and still binding) Colorado Supreme Court rulings on petition deadlines (Yenter v. Baker, 248 P.2d 311 and Baker v. Bosworth, 222 P.2d 416, 418). (Exhibits for Motion 1-11)
The lawsuit appears to have a solid foundation based on both constitutional & statutory language and governing case law (including binding Colorado Supreme Court precedent). If successful in all claims, it has the potential to alter the dynamic of the historic Colorado Recall elections and to strike a blow against the universal applicability of the “all-mail-ballot” election law.
Ballot access is considered such a fundamental political right (bolstered by both state and federal case law) that the challenge has good prospects for success, at least in part.
http://www.examiner.com/article/constitutional-challenge-on-ballot-access-mail-vote-filed-colorado-recalls