Ballot Access News has just learned that in 2021, the Colorado law for presidential ballot access in the general election was made much more severe. The easy method for getting on for president in the general election, a filing fee of $1,000, was repealed. Now the only method for an independent presidential candidate to get on the ballot is a petition of 12,000 signatures, with a severe distribution requirement. There must be 1,500 signatures from each of the eight U.S. House districts.
The 2021 law change did not affect the ability of groups to become qualified political parties. That still takes 10,000 signatures, and once a party is qualified, it may place a presidential candidate on the November ballot with no petition. Thanks to Gary Swing for this news.
The 2021 bill was a complete recodification of the election law, SB 21-250.
That’s a serious disappointment. Many political parties, including my American Solidarity Party, gained traction by getting on only in Colorado for a first presidential election.
I wet the bed
In practice, all real minor parties that have held party assemblies and nominated candidates in Colorado have qualified by first petitioning a candidate onto the ballot for statewide or Congressional office and then building up voter registration of at least 1,000 party members in the state. In 2019, Democratic state legislators vastly increased petition signature requirements for unaffiliated candidates, making it far more difficult to take the first step towards creating a new party in Colorado. Democrats have already suppressed independent candidates using the petition process. Now Republicans are trying to kill off all minor parties using the party assembly nomination process.
Ballot access should be at the precinct level. Only parties which have someone living in a given precinct who is willing to have a party sign in front of their house and be the precinct captain or chair of that party in between elections, and to be present at the election to represent their party, should be allowed to have votes counted in that precinct. Voting should be in person and on the record like at a caucus, town meeting, convention etc.
Can candidates doing the presidential petition in Colorado chose a party label or does this petition only put them on as an independent, as in with no party label?
Feb 9 comment is by Edward TJ Brown.