On April 23, the Colorado House passed HB 19-1278. Among other things, it increases the number of signatures for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties (but it does not change the presidential ballot access requirement). It raises the non-presidential statewide petition from 1,000 signatures to 10,500 signatures, and imposes a severe congressional district distribution requirement. Now the bill goes to the Senate.
The state senate hearing on House Bill 1278 is TODAY at 1:30 with the senate state affairs committee.
Anyone who can be there, please come to testify against it. Ask the senators to remove the independent and minor party primary ballot access revisions from this bill.
The political system should be more open, inclusive, and representative. Ballot access should be made easier across the board, not ten times more difficult. There is no excuse for shutting independent candidates and alternative perspectives out of the political process.
Colorado State Capitol Building, Room 357. Be there, and be squarely against independent candidate suppression.
The Colorado state senate hearing on House Bill 1278 is TODAY at 1:30 with the senate state affairs committee.
Anyone who can be there, please come to testify against it. Ask the senators to remove the independent and minor party primary ballot access revisions from this bill.
The political system should be more open, inclusive, and representative. Ballot access should be made easier across the board, not ten times more difficult. There is no excuse for shutting independent candidates and alternative perspectives out of the political process.
Colorado State Capitol Building, Room 357. Be there, and be squarely against independent candidate suppression.
Many people testified before Colorado’s Senate State Affairs Committee today — an equal number for and against House Bill 1278. However, the bill includes numerous changes to election laws.
The testimony went as well as one might hope with such short notice. Crucially, nobody who testified expressed support for making ballot access more difficult. Several people spoke against tougher ballot access laws. We asked for an amendment to remove Section 19 concerning independent and minor party ballot access from the bill.
Those testifying against ballot access restrictions included Gary Swing (Unity Party), Frank Atwood and Blake Huber (Approval Voting Party), Harry Hempy (2014 Green Party candidate for Governor of Colorado), former independent State Representative Kathleen Curry (Unite Colorado), Jesse Kumin (Best Democracy), and at least two other people whose names I didn’t get. One was a representative for the League of Women Voters. I think the other was a county clerk who said we want to encourage independents to participate in elections.
We lost the committee vote 3-2. Now we need to get people to call their state senator to ask for either an amendment to remove the independent candidate suppression language or to vote to kill the bill. The vote is likely to be on party lines with Democrats voting for the bill and Republicans voting against it. We need to get the support of some Democrats in the state senate.
https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators?field_chamber_target_id=2&field_political_affiliation_target_id=All&sort_bef_combine=field_last_name_value%20ASC
On Sunday, April 28, the Libertarian Party of Colorado passed a resolution condemning House Bill 1278, which greatly increases the number of petition signatures required to qualify independent candidates for Colorado’s ballot. The Libertarian Party joins the Unity Party, the Approval Voting Party, Best Democracy, and Unite
Colorado in opposing this Independent Candidate Suppression Act.
Please call or write your state legislators and Governor Polis to oppose Section 19 of House Bill 1278.
Resolution of the LPCO – revised and approved by the LPCO convention 2019/04/28
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Resolved, Colorado LP opposes HB 19-1278, which Libertarians refer to as the “Independent Candidate Suppression Act”.
This measure would greatly increase the number of petition signatures required to qualify independent candidates for the Colorado ballot for statewide and congressional offices
– For statewide offices, the signature requirement increases from 1,000 to 7,000 signatures
– It adds a distribution requirement of at least 1,000 signatures from each of Colorado’s seven congressional districts
– Independent candidates for US House would need 1,500 signatures to get on the ballot instead of the current 800.
– It would effectively block independent candidates from getting on the ballot for statewide or congressional offices.
– It also increases the signature requirement for county and state legislative offices.
– Petitioning is already a very costly and labor-intensive process (Unite Colorado reports that major-party candidates who petition to get their way on the statewide ballot spend an average of more than $200,000 on their petition drives.)
HB 19-1278 is a broad package of election-law changes, many of which are unrelated.
The Libertarian Party specifically asks for amendment to remove section 19 (which concerns the nomination of independent and minor party candidates) in its entirety.
Increasing burdens on independent voters, minor party voters, or anyone else who doesn’t fit into the two-party dynamic is an unconscionable erosion of voting rights.
While HB 19-1278 will have little or no effect on the Libertarian Party of Colorado, we stand for the rights of voters to hear the views and opinions of ALL candidates, and favor more, not fewer candidates and opinions in elections.
Libertarians favor open, easy ballot access for all parties and individuals.
Libertarians in Colorado oppose these changes, and ask our legislators and the governor to oppose this bill.
https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators?field_chamber_target_id=2&field_political_affiliation_target_id=All&sort_bef_combine=field_last_name_value%20ASC