Opinion ID: 2521384
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Background on Section 1-11-203.5

Text: Section 1-11-203.5 (the statute) was enacted as part of House Bill 94-1286 (the bill), which sought to amend the Uniform Election Code of 1992(UEC), §§ 1-1-101 through 1-13-803, 1 C.R.S. (2003). Ch. 200, secs. 1-105, 1994 Colo. Sess. Laws 1149, 1149-97; Hearing on HB 94-1286 Before the House State, Military, and Veterans' Affairs Committee, 59th Gen. Assembly, 2nd Reg. Sess. (Feb. 15, 1994) (House Hearing) (statement of Rep. Allen); Hearing on HB 94-1286 Before the Senate State, Military, and Veterans' Affairs Committee, 59th Gen. Assembly, 2nd Reg. Sess. (March 8, 1994) (Senate Hearing) (statement of Sen. Thiebaut). [5] The impetus for the bill was the 1992 passage of the constitutional amendment that implemented article X, section 20 of the Colorado Constitution. Since the passage of the UEC in 1992, that amendment created several new deadlines and imposed many new requirements on state and local election officials. [6] Because of those increased responsibilities and shortened timelines, Senator Thiebaut offered an amendment to the bill to add section 1-11-203.5 to the UEC. Senate Hearing (statement of Sen. Thiebaut); Ch. 200, sec. 64, § 1-11-203.5, 1994 Colo. Sess. Laws 1149, 1176-77. Section 1-11-203.5 sets out the exclusive procedure for contesting ballot titles in local elections. § 1-11-203.5(5). Subsection (1) of that statute states in relevant part that all election contests arising out of a ballot issue or ballot question election concerning the order on the ballot or the form or content of any ballot title shall be summarily adjudicated by the district court sitting for the political subdivision within which the contest arises prior to the election. Subsection (2) provides that [e]very such contest shall be commenced by verified petition filed by the contestor to the proper court, setting forth the grounds for the contest and a proposed alternative order for the ballot or alternative form or content for the contested ballot title. It further states that: [t]he petition shall be filed and a copy served on the contestee within five days after the title of the ballot issue or ballot question is set by the state or political subdivision and for contests concerning the order of a ballot, within five days after the ballot order is set by the county clerk and recorder and not thereafter. Id. The statute also gives the contestee five days to answer the petition and instructs the court to set the matter for an immediate trial, mandating an adjudication within ten days of the filing of the answer. Id. Subsection (3) provides that: [i]f the court finds that the order of the ballot or the form or content of the ballot title does not conform to the requirements of the state constitution and statutes, the court shall provide in its order the text of the corrected ballot title or the corrected order of the measures to be placed upon the ballot and shall award costs and reasonable attorneys fees to the contestor. Hence, the statute provides a twenty-day process for the court to hear complaints about the form or content of a ballot title and to correct any ballot titles whose form or content do not conform to state law. The date upon which that twenty-day process is to begin is the day that the ballot title is set by the state or the pertinent political subdivision.