The amendment encourages the status quo, favors politics as usual, and works against proponents of change and reform. The requirements for placing a proposal on the ballot are difficult enough. Proponents of initiated proposals already must obtain over 54,000 valid signatures of registered electors, which requires submittal of approximately 75,000 signatures, plus organize and finance the campaign necessary to convince the voters of the merits of the proposal. Well organized and heavily financed campaigns in opposition to major changes will have an overwhelming advantage by needing to convince only 40 percent of the voters to oppose a proposal. The votes of persons who oppose change will carry more weight than the votes of proponents of change.
Majority rule is the standard for adopting proposals in a democracy.
We have trusted the judgment of the people of the state to make decisions on amending the constitution and the people have shown that they are selective in the proposals they approve and disapprove. Many provisions of our laws that we now value as important were extremely controversial at the time of their enactment and would not have met the 60 percent standard. Majority votes prevailed in areas such as taking judges out of partisan politics, requiring voter approval for tax increases, and using lottery proceeds for parks and open space. A 60 percent requirement, however, may have meant that Colorado would have been slow to adopt important changes or may not have adopted them at all. By limiting the frequency of elections, the people lose some of their freedom to change their government.