(1) Candidates for partisan public offices to be filled at a general or congressional vacancy election who do not wish to affiliate with a major political party may be nominated, other than by a primary election or a convention, in the following manner:
(a) A petition for nominating minor political party or unaffiliated candidates shall be prepared, indicating the name and address of any candidate for the office to be filled. The petition shall indicate the name of the minor political party or designate in not more than three words the political or other name selected by the signers to identify an unaffiliated candidate. No name of any political party shall be used, in whole or in part, to identify an unaffiliated candidate.
(b) Each petition must contain only the name of one candidate for one office; except that any petition for a candidate for president of the United States must also include a candidate for vice president, and a candidate for governor must also include a candidate for lieutenant governor, and together they shall be considered joint candidates at the general election. In the case of nominations for president and vice president of the United States, the joint candidates shall submit a list of presidential electors endorsed by the electors, and the names of the presidential electors must be added to the petition.
(c) Every petition for the office of president and vice president, for statewide office, for congressional district office, for the office of member of the general assembly, for district attorney, and for county office must be signed by eligible electors residing within the district or political subdivision in which the officer is to be elected. Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section, the number of signatures of eligible electors on a petition is as follows:
(I) At least one thousand five hundred in each congressional district for the office of president and vice president;
(II) (A) At least one thousand in each congressional district for the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, or treasurer, or the office of United States senator;
(B) At least five hundred in each congressional district for the office of an at-large seat on either the state board of education or the board of regents of the university of Colorado;
(III) The lesser of one thousand five hundred or two and one-half percent of the votes cast in the congressional district in the most recent general election for the office of member of the United States house of representatives, member of the state board of education for a congressional district, or member of the board of regents of the university of Colorado for a congressional district;
(IV) The lesser of one thousand or three and one-third percent of the votes cast in the senate district in the most recent general election for the office of member of the state senate;
(V) The lesser of one thousand or five percent of votes cast in the house district in the most recent general election for the office of member of the state house of representatives;
(VI) The lesser of one thousand or three percent of the votes cast in the district in the most recent general election for the office of district attorney; and
(VII) The lesser of one thousand or two percent of the votes cast for all candidates for that office in the most recent general election for any county office.
(d) (I) No petition to nominate an unaffiliated candidate, except petitions for candidates for vacancies to unexpired terms of representatives in congress and for presidential electors, shall be circulated or any signatures obtained thereon earlier than one hundred seventy-three days before the general election.
(II) No petition to nominate a minor political party candidate shall be circulated nor any signatures obtained thereon earlier than the first Monday in February in the general election year.
(e) The petition to nominate an unaffiliated candidate may designate or appoint upon its face one or more unaffiliated registered electors as a committee to fill vacancies in accordance with section 1-4-1008. However, in the case of a petition for the office of state senator or state representative, the petition shall designate or appoint upon its face three or more unaffiliated registered electors as a committee to fill vacancies in accordance with sections 1-4-1008 and 1-12-203.
(f) (I) Except as provided by subparagraph (II) of this paragraph (f), petitions shall be filed no later than 3 p.m. on the one hundred seventeenth day before the general election or, for a congressional vacancy election, no later than 3 p.m. on the twentieth day after the date of the order issued by the governor.
(II) Petitions to nominate candidates of minor political parties must be filed no later than the close of business on the eighty-fifth day before the primary election as specified in section 1-4-101.
(g) (I) For congressional vacancy elections, no person shall be placed in nomination by petition unless the person is an eligible elector and was registered as affiliated with a minor political party or as unaffiliated, as shown in the statewide voter registration system, for at least twelve months prior to the last date the petition may be filed.
(II) For general elections, no person shall be placed in nomination by petition unless the person is an eligible elector of the political subdivision or district in which the officer is to be elected and unless the person was registered as affiliated with a minor political party or as unaffiliated, as shown in the statewide voter registration system, no later than the first business day of the January immediately preceding the general election for which the person desires to be placed in nomination; except that, if such nomination is for a nonpartisan election, the person shall be an eligible elector of the political subdivision or district and be a registered elector, as shown in the statewide voter registration system, on the date of the earliest signature on the petition.
(2) Where the electors of the county have voted to increase the membership of the board of county commissioners from three to five pursuant to section 30-10-306.5, C.R.S., or to decrease the membership of the board from five to three pursuant to section 30-10-306.7, C.R.S., for the next two general elections immediately following an election at which the voters have approved a change in the membership of the board, the signature requirements for the petition to select candidates who do not wish to affiliate with a major political party are as follows:
(a) Where any one or more commissioners to be elected to the board of county commissioners will be voted on by voters of the whole county, every petition must require signers equal in number to the lesser of either seven hundred fifty signers or two percent of the average of all votes cast in each county commissioner district for which there was a race on the ballot during the most recent general election;
(b) Where any one or more commissioners to be elected to the board of county commissioners will be voted on only by the electors residing in a particular county commissioner district, every petition must require signers equal in number to the lesser of either:
(I) Seven hundred fifty signers; or
(II) The number realized by first determining two percent of the average of all votes cast in each county commissioner district for which there was a race on the ballot during the most recent general election, and then dividing that number by the total number of commissioner districts in the county where commissioners are voted on only by the electors residing in a district, whether three or five.
(3) Following the first two general elections that are conducted after a change in the membership of the board of county commissioners pursuant to section 30-10-306.5 or 30-10-306.7, C.R.S., the signature requirements for a petition for a county commissioner candidate who does not wish to affiliate with a major political party must follow the procedures specified in subparagraph (VI) of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section.
Source: L. 92: Entire part R&RE, p. 685, § 7, effective January 1, 1993. L. 95: (1)(a), (1)(c), (1)(d), (1)(e), (1)(f), and (1)(g) amended, pp. 861, 885, 830, §§ 116, 2, 29, effective July 1. L. 96: IP(1) amended, p. 1739, § 21, effective July 1. L. 99: (1)(d) and (1)(f) amended, p. 764, § 25, effective May 20. L. 2003: IP(1), (1)(a), (1)(d), (1)(e), (1)(f), and (1)(g) amended, p. 1310, § 7, effective April 22. L. 2005: (1)(d) and (1)(f) amended, p. 1399, § 17, effective June 6; (1)(d) and (1)(f) amended, p. 1434, § 17, effective June 6. L. 2010: (1)(g) amended, (HB 10-1271), ch. 324, p. 1503, § 5, effective May 27. L. 2011: (1)(d) and (1)(f) amended, (SB 11-189), ch. 243, p. 1064, § 10, effective May 27. L. 2012: (1)(b), (1)(d)(I), and (1)(f)(I) amended, (HB 12-1292), ch. 181, p. 680, § 13, effective May 17. L. 2013: IP(1)(c) amended and (2) and (3) added, (SB 13-243), ch. 268, p. 1411, § 2, effective May 24. L. 2016: (1)(g) amended, (SB 16-142), ch. 173, p. 576, § 31, effective May 18. L. 2017: (1)(e) amended, (SB 17-209), ch. 234, p. 962, § 8, effective August 9. L. 2019: (1)(c) amended, (HB 19-1278), ch. 326, p. 3012, § 19, effective August 2. L. 2021: (1)(b) and (1)(f)(II) amended, (SB 21-250), ch. 282, p. 1640, § 18, effective June 21.
Editor’s note: (1) This section is similar to former § 1-4-801 as it existed prior to 1992.
(2) Section 85 of chapter 282 (SB 21-250), Session Laws of Colorado 2021, provides that the act changing this section applies to elections conducted on or after June 21, 2021.
Cross references: (1) For filling vacancies in a nomination for an unaffiliated candidate, see § 1-4-1002 (4) and (5).
(2) For the short title (“Colorado Votes Act”) in HB 19-1278, see section 1 of chapter 326, Session Laws of Colorado 2019.