page_title: 2013 Colorado recall election
section_title: Submission and certification of petitions
hierarchical_section_title: 2013 Colorado recall election / Submission and certification of petitions
caption_attribution_description: Colorado State Senator Angela Giron.
context_page_description: The Colorado recall election of 2013 was a successful effort to recall two Democratic members of the Colorado Senate following their support of new gun control legislation. Initially four politicians were targeted, but sufficient signatures could only be obtained for State Senate President John Morse and State Senator Angela Giron.
  During the petition drive, national organizations on both the gun rights and gun control sides became involved by providing mailings and donations. Once the petitions were submitted, Morse and Giron challenged the effort in court, but were denied the injunction that they had requested from the court. A further court hearing resulted in the election being conducted in-person rather than by mail, which also led to Giron complaining of voter suppression.
  In the election, held on September 10, 2013, both Morse and Giron were recalled by the voters of their districts and replaced with Republicans George Rivera and Bernie Herpin, respectively. It was the first time a state legislator in Colorado had been recalled. In the 2014 Senate elections 13 months later, both Rivera and Herpin were defeated by their Democratic opponents.
context_section_description: On June 3, 2013, BFDF turned in over 16,000 signatures petitioning to recall Morse to the Colorado Secretary of State, Republican Scott Gessler, of which only 7,178 needed to be certified in order to force a recall election. In addition, over 13,000 signatures were turned in to recall Giron, of which 11,285 needed to be certified. Efforts to recall McLachlan failed, collecting only about 8,500 signatures of the 10,587 needed. Likewise, the efforts to recall Hudak also failed, falling short of the 18,962 signatures needed.
  A group backing Morse alleged that fifty of the signatures on the petitions were forged, including one individual who had been dead for two years. A spokesman for BFDF immediately issued a statement calling for an investigation and stating that if anyone committed fraud the guilty party should be prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law." The group calling for the recall also alleged that Morse's volunteers were harassing those that signed the petition, requesting that they remove their name from the petition.
caption: Former Colorado Senator Angela Giron
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