2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 31 - GOVERNMENT - MUNICIPAL (§§ 31-1-101 — 31-35-712) › MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS (§§ 31-10-101 — 31-11-118) › Article 11 - MUNICIPAL INITIATIVES, REFERENDA, AND REFERRED MEASURES (§§ 31-11-101 — 31-11-118) › Section 31-11-106 - Form of petition sections

(1)
Each petition section shall be printed in a form consistent with the requirements of this article. No petition section shall be printed or circulated unless the form and the first printer's proof of the petition section have first been approved by the clerk. The clerk shall approve or reject the form and the first printer's proof of the petition no later than five business days following the date on which the clerk received such material. The clerk shall assure that the petition section contains only those elements required by this article and contains no extraneous material. The clerk may reject a petition or a section of a petition on the grounds that the petition or a section of the petition does not propose municipal legislation pursuant to section 1 (9) of article V of the state constitution.
(2)
Each petition section shall designate by name and mailing address two persons who shall represent the proponents thereof in all matters affecting the petition and to whom all notices or information concerning the petition shall be mailed.
(3)
(a)
At the top of each page of every initiative or referendum petition section, the following shall be printed, in a form as prescribed by the clerk:
WARNING:
IT IS AGAINST THE LAW:
For anyone to sign any initiative or referendum petition with any name other than his or her own or to knowingly sign his or her name more than once for the same measure or to knowingly sign a petition when not a registered elector who is eligible to vote on the measure.
DO NOT SIGN THIS PETITION UNLESS YOU ARE A REGISTERED ELECTOR AND ELIGIBLE TO VOTE ON THIS MEASURE.
TO BE A REGISTERED ELECTOR, YOU MUST BE A CITIZEN OF COLORADO AND REGISTERED TO VOTE.
Do not sign this petition unless you have read or have had read to you the proposed initiative or referred measure or the summary in its entirety and understand its meaning.
(b)
A summary of the proposed initiative or ordinance that is the subject of a referendum petition shall be printed following the warning on each page of a petition section. The summary shall be true and impartial and shall not be an argument, or likely to create prejudice, either for or against the measure. The summary shall be prepared by the clerk.
(c)
The full text of the proposed initiated measure or ordinance that is the subject of a referendum petition shall be printed following the summary on the first page or pages of the petition section that precede the signature page. Notwithstanding the requirement of paragraph (a) of this subsection (3), if the text of the proposed initiated measure or ordinance requires more than one page of a petition section, the warning and summary need not appear at the top of other than the initial text page.
(d)
The signature pages shall consist of the warning and the summary, followed by ruled lines numbered consecutively for registered electors' signatures. If a petition section contains multiple signature pages, all signature lines shall be numbered consecutively, from the first signature page through the last. The signature pages shall follow the page or pages on which the full text of the proposed initiated measure or ordinance that is the subject of the referendum petition is printed.
(e)
(I)
Following the signature pages of each petition section, there shall be attached a signed, notarized, and dated affidavit executed by the person who circulated the petition section, which shall include the following:
(A)
The affiant's printed name, the address at which the affiant resides, including the street name and number, the municipality, the county, and the date the affiant signed the affidavit;
(B)
That the affiant has read and understands the laws governing the circulation of petition;
(C)
That the affiant was eighteen years of age or older at the time the section of the petition was circulated and signed by the listed electors;
(D)
That the affiant circulated the section of the petition;
(E)
That each signature thereon was affixed in the affiant's presence;
(F)
That each signature thereon is the signature of the person whose name it purports to be;
(G)
That, to the best of the affiant's knowledge and belief, each of the persons signing the petition section was, at the time of signing, a registered elector; and
(H)
That the affiant has not paid or will not in the future pay and that the affiant believes that no other person has paid or will pay, directly or indirectly, any money or other thing of value to any signer for the purpose of inducing or causing such signer to affix the signer's signature to the petition.
(II)
The clerk shall not accept for filing any section of a petition that does not have attached thereto the notarized affidavit required by subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (e). Any disassembly of a section of the petition that has the effect of separating the affidavit from the signature page or pages shall render that section of the petition invalid and of no force and effect.
(III)
Any signature added to a section of a petition after the affidavit has been executed shall be invalid.
(4)
All sections of any petition shall be prenumbered serially.
(5)
Any petition section that fails to conform to the requirements of this article or that is circulated in a manner other than that permitted by this article shall be invalid.
L. 95: Entire article added, p. 424, § 1, effective May 8. L. 2000: (1) and (3)(e)(I) amended, p. 800, § 24, effective August 2.