Opinion ID: 2585476
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Plaintiff's first claim is a ballot title contest and therefore time-barred by the statute of limitations

Text: We first address plaintiffs' claim that Referred Issue 2A is invalid because it includes four separate purposes, thereby requiring voters to vote for all of them collectively, against all of them collectively, or none at all. Because we construe this claim to be a challenge to the content of the ballot itself on the basis of multiple subjects, the statute of limitations forecloses suit. [5] Pursuant to section 1-11-201(3), a party may contest the results of a ballot question on several grounds. Among the causes listed in that section are the inclusion of illegal votes in election results, errors by election judges, and an election official's misconduct which changed the result of the election. [6] In addition to the causes listed in section 1-11-201(3) to challenge election results, section 1-11-203.5 provides parties with a way to contest a ballot title itself. Included in this section is a statute of limitations provision which requires that the contestor file a complaint within five days after the title of the ballot issue or ballot question is set by the political subdivision. § 1-11-203.5(2), 1 C.R.S. (2002). The procedure provided in this section is the exclusive means to contest or otherwise challenge the order of the ballot or the form or content of the ballot title. § 1-11-203.5(5). [7] Plaintiffs concede that the time to challenge Referred Issue 2A had long since passed by the time they filed their complaint. However, plaintiffs argue that none of the grounds upon which a party may contest an election result on a ballot issue included in section 1-11-201(3) is applicable here. Because their challenge is not a ballot title contest, they contend that the statute of limitations in section 1-11-203.5(2) does not apply to bar the claim. Plaintiffs additionally argue that our holding in City of Denver v. Hayes, 28 Colo. 110, 63 P. 311 (1900), renders the failure to challenge the content of the ballot title within the five day statute of limitations period irrelevant and immaterial. Reviewing the statutory language of sections 1-11-201(3) and 1-11-203.5, we disagree with plaintiffs' argument for two reasons. First, section 1-11-201(3) states that a ballot question may be contested on the enumerated grounds provided. Use of the word may suggests that the list of permissible purposes to contest the result of a ballot issue is not exhaustive. See, e.g., People v. Miller, 890 P.2d 84, 98 n. 15 (Colo.1995). Second, section 1-11-203.5 specifically provides parties with a way to challenge the form or content of a ballot title and provides exclusive proceduresincluding a five day statute of limitations periodwhich govern such challenges. Nor do we find persuasive plaintiffs' argument that Hayes is controlling. In Hayes, we held that bonds issued for several purposes are invalid unless each purpose and the amount proposed are separately submitted for voter approval or rejection. 28 Colo. at 115, 63 P. at 313. However, the timeliness of filing a ballot title challenge was not at issue in Hayes, which we decided nearly a century before the general assembly enacted section 1-11-203.5. See Contests concerning ballot order or ballot titleballot issue or ballot question elections, ch. 200, § 64, 1994 Sess. Laws 1176. Thus, under our current statutory scheme, the statute of limitations is a threshold requirement any party contesting a ballot title must observe. See Molleck v. City of Golden, 884 P.2d 725, 727 (Colo. 1994). [8] Plaintiffs' argument that the ballot issue was invalid because it contained multiple purposes is clearly a challenge to the form or content of the ballot title. Because section 1-11-203.5(2) requires that all challenges to the form or content of a ballot title must be filed within five days after the title of the ballot issue is set, and because plaintiffs filed their claim long after the statute of limitations period expired, we hold that plaintiffs' claim challenging the content of the ballot title is time-barred.