You have probably signed or been asked to sign a petition to get an initiative on the state ballot.  You may even have circulated a petition, as many LWV members are doing this year with Initiative 89 Right to Abortion.  Several other steps precede collecting signatures so let’s look at the initiative process from beginning to end.

First, let’s review Colorado’s 3 types of state ballot measures – listed below from least common to most common:

• Citizen referendum, sometimes called a “veto referendum”: Recent example: Citizens who challenged Senate Bill 19-042 collected signatures to put Prop 113 on the 2020 ballot, asking voters to affirm or reject Colorado’s entry in the National Popular Vote Compact.
• Legislative referendum: The legislature by a 2/3 vote in each chamber places on the ballot a constitutional change, a change requiring voter approval (e.g., TABOR requires voter approval of tax increases), or other changes which the legislature wants to give to the voters to decide.  LWVCO was part of a coalition that successfully got Amendments Y and Z referred to the voters, thereby avoiding the expense of collecting signatures.
• Citizen initiative: About half the states allow for some type of citizen-initiated measures.  Colorado allows both constitutional and statutory initiatives.  Constitutional changes require 55% of the vote, unless the change is only a repeal of existing language.  Statutory changes require more than 50% of the vote.