Court Opinion

ID: 9543559
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:46:32.517239+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:10:35.265175
License: Public Domain

Justice MULLARKEY
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
The majority gives a broad construction to the notarization requirement which the legislature imposed on initiative petitions by the 1989 statutory amendments, and, as so construed, upholds it. In addition, the majority also affirms the lower court’s order which approved the Secretary of State’s (Secretary’s) rejection of several petitions on the grounds that the circulators did not sign the petition affidavits on the same day they were notarized. Because I believe the Secretary’s rejection of the petitions was erroneous, I respectfully dissent from that part of the majority opinion.
The Committee for Better Health for all Colorado Citizens (Committee), a volunteer organization, filed the Tobacco Products Tax Initiative with the Secretary of State for placement on the November 1990 ballot. Approximately 73,600 signatures were originally submitted to the Secretary of State. Upon rejection by the Secretary of approximately 23,300 signatures, the petition fell 385 signatures short of the required 50,688 to qualify for the ballot. In light of the Secretary’s arbitrary and capricious rejection of many of those 23,300 signatures, this court should reverse the lower court and order the initiative to be placed on the ballot.1
The 1989 statutory amendments added the requirement in subsection (2)(b) of section 1-40-106, IB C.R.S. (1991 Supp.), that the petition circulator’s affidavit be notarized and dated. The majority recognizes that, under the constitution, the circulator’s affidavit may be taken by anyone who is authorized by law to administer an oath. Thus, judges and other court personnel described in section 24-12-103, 10A C.R.S. (1991 Supp.), as well as notaries public, may administer the circulator’s oath. Maj. op. at 894. Accordingly, the majority construes the reference to a “notarized” affi*902davit in section l-40-106(2)(b) to be “generic” and not intended to require that only a notary public authenticate a circulator’s affidavit.
I agree that the constitution prohibits limiting the affidavit function to performance by a notary public. Since its enactment, article V, section 1 has been amended only once. In 1980, the voters changed the initiative process primarily to require that only a “registered elector” rather than a “qualified elector” may sign a petition. Compare Colo. Const. art. V, § 1, 1A C.R.S. (1980) with Colo. Const. art. V, § 1, 1A C.R.S. (1991 Supp.). Significantly, for purposes of this case, however, the affidavit required of petition circulators was not changed by the 1980 constitutional amendment. The provision at issue provides in relevant part:
The petition shall consist of sheets having such general form printed or written at the top thereof as shall be designated or prescribed by the secretary of state; such petition shall be signed by registered electors in their own proper persons only, to which shall be attached the residence address of such person and the date of signing the same. To each of such petitions, which may consist of one or more sheets, shall be attached an affidavit of some registered elector that each signature thereon is the signature of the person whose name it purports to be and that, to the best of the knowledge and belief of the affiant, each of the persons signing said petition was, at the time of signing, a registered elector. Such petition so verified shall be prima facie evidence that the signatures thereon are genuine and true and that the persons signing the same are registered electors.
Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(6). Also unchanged from the original 1910 amendment, the initiative amendment continues to provide that the rights of initiative and referendum are “in all respects self-executing.” Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(10).
We have recognized that this constitutional provision “is not a mere framework, but contains the necessary detailed provisions for carrying into immediate effect the enjoyment of the rights therein established without legislative action.” Yenter v. Baker, 126 Colo. 232, 236, 248 P.2d 311, 314 (1952). The simple affidavit requirement is one of the detailed provisions in the initiative amendment which was intended to be sufficient for carrying the petition into immediate effect. From the time it was approved in 1910, this constitutional amendment has required that the affidavit of an elector be attached to the petition to verify the signatures contained within the petition. Ch. 3, Sec. 2, 1910 Colo.Ex.Sess.Laws 13. At all times, the amendment also has provided that a petition “so verified” is prima facie evidence that the attached signatures thereon are genuine and true.
“[WJords used in the Constitution are to be given the natural and popular meaning usually understood by the people who adopted them.” Urbish v. Lamm, 761 P.2d 756, 760 (Colo.1988) (citing A-B Cattle Co. v. U.S., 196 Colo. 539, 589 P.2d 57 (1978)). The term “affidavit,” by itself, does not require notarization by a notary public. “An affidavit is an oath reduced to writing and attested by him who has authority to administer the same....” Walker v. People, 22 Colo. 415, 418, 45 P. 388, 389 (1896). Thus, any authorized officer, not necessarily a notary public, may authenticate the affidavit under the constitutional provision. Affidavits taken in this manner have long served the purpose of protecting exercise of the initiative right against fraud, mistake and abuse.
Notary laws were in existence at the time that the initiative provision was added to the constitution. See Ch. 96, § 4667, R.S. (1908). If the supporters of the initiative had considered authentication by a notary public necessary to guard against fraud, mistake, or abuse, the requirement that affidavits be notarized could have been put in place at that time. Instead, the provision required only an affidavit, and stated that a petition “so verified” was to be considered prima facie evidence that the signatures were genuine. In light of this fact, I agree that the statutory notarization requirement must be interpreted to require *903nothing more than an affidavit authenticated by any person who is authorized by law to administer oaths and affirmations.
However, the Secretary has not interpreted the notarization requirement as a “generic” affidavit requirement. The Secretary has adopted a form for the circulator’s affidavit which states:
AFFIDAVIT OF CIRCULATOR
I,-, swear that
(Circulator Printed Name)
I am a registered elector of the State of Colorado; that my address is:
Street Number and Name
City County Zip Code
and I have circulated the foregoing petition and each signature thereon was affixed in my presence; and each signature thereon is the signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and to the best of my knowledge and belief each of the persons signing said petition section was at the time of such signing a registered elector of the State of Colorado; I have not nor will I pay in the future and I believe that no other person has so 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 his signature to such petition.
Signature of Circulator Date of Signing
STATE OF COLORADO
COUNTY OF _
Subscribed and sworn to before me this_ day of_, 1989.
(Notary Public)
My commission expires (SEAL)
Sections 1-40-106 and -107, IB C.R.S. (1991 Supp.), require a circulator to use the Secretary’s form and under section 1-40-107(2), IB C.R.S. (1991 Supp.), the petitions would be invalid if the circulator substituted his own form of affidavit. In light of our holding in this case, the Secretary’s form is inaccurate and misleading because if refers only to a notary public as authenticating the affidavit. Clearly it must be changed in the future.
Further, I question whether the Secretary properly invalidated a number of petitions because the date on which the circulator signed was not the same as the date on which the notary public signed. In my view, the Secretary erred and acted arbitrarily and capriciously when she invalidated such petitions.
The only reference to a date requirement for the circulator affidavit is found in section l-40-106(2)(b), IB C.R.S. (1991 Supp.), which states that “[t]o each petition section shall be attached a signed, notarized and dated affidavit executed by” the circulator. The Secretary apparently has interpreted the dated affidavit requirement to mean that both the circulator and the officer administering the oath must separately date the affidavit. Her adoption of a dual dating requirement is not compelled by the language of the statute and, as this case indicates, it plainly creates a trap for the unwary.
As the majority correctly reminds us, initiative is a fundamental right, maj. op. at 890, n. 7, and implementing laws must be liberally construed to promote the exercise of the initiative, maj. op. at 893. Consist*904ent with these principles, I would interpret the dated affidavit requirement to mean only that the officer administering the oath must date the affidavit. On that basis, I would reverse the Secretary’s disapproval of any petitions because of a discrepancy in the dates shown by the circulator and the person who administered the affidavit.
Even if the circulator can be required to separately date the affidavit, a date discrepancy is not a valid basis for rejecting the petitions. The constitution in article V, section 1(6) requires the circulator to submit an affidavit indicating that the persons signing the petition were the persons named and that, to the best of the circulator’s knowledge, those persons were registered electors at the time of signing. Here, the circulator has sworn that such facts are true by signing the statement required by the Secretary. Such a signed statement would expose the circulator to charges of perjury if the signed statement were materially false. See §§ 18-8-501 and -503, 8B C.R.S. (1986). For purposes of perjury, the definition of a written statement made under oath includes a statement made with the intent that it be accepted in compliance with a law which requires a statement attesting to the truth of the statement. § 18-8-501(2)(a)(III). Thus, the purpose of the constitutional affidavit requirement has been accomplished. “The chief test of the sufficiency of an affidavit required by law is whether it is so clear and certain that an indictment for perjury may be sustained on it if false.” Jotter v. Marvin, 67 Colo. 548, 551, 189 P. 19, 20 (1920). The fact that the notary public executed the affidavit form at a later date is not a defect sufficient to invalidate the petitions because, after he has signed the oath, the circulator may acknowledge his signature to the officer administering the oath.
We confronted a similar problem in Otani v. District Court, 662 P.2d 1088 (Colo.1983), where the question was whether an affidavit of indigency was sufficient to permit a criminal defendant to proceed in for-ma pauperis on appeal. The defendant signed a written statement in which he swore that he was indigent. He then appeared before a notary public and acknowledged his signature to the notary. Id. at 1089-90, n. 2. The district court held that the document was not a valid affidavit of indigency but was a mere acknowledgement. We rejected that distinction and said:
This conclusion misperceives the nature of the two writings. An affidavit is a signed, written statement, made under oath before an authorized officer, in which the affiant vouches that what is said is true. Re Estate of Giannopoulos, 89 Misc.2d 961, 392 N.Y.S.2d 828 (1977); 2A C.J.S. Affidavits § 2 (1972). An acknowledgement is a manner of authenticating an affidavit or other instrument by showing that it was the un-coerced act of the person executing it. 3 Am.Jur.2d Affidavits § 3 (1962). [The defendant’s] statement was an affidavit; the use of the language “duly sworn upon oath” signified that [the defendant] declared under oath the truth of the facts set forth_ Therefore, we believe that the affidavit and acknowledgement, read together, constitute prima facie evidence that the facts in [the defendant’s] affidavit were true.
Id. at 1090. The same reasoning should apply here. The circulator has sworn to the truth of the facts required by the constitution and his signature has been acknowledged by a notary public. Nothing more should be required.
Accordingly, I dissent from that portion of the majority opinion upholding the Secretary’s invalidation of petitions because of date variances on the circulator’s affidavit.

. The Committee’s complaint and opening brief, submitted to the district court, stated that over 4000 signatures were rejected on the grounds that the circulator affidavit dates differed from the date of notarization. This amount was not disputed in either of the defense briefs.