Proposed ballot measures require line-by-line verification

Random samples inconclusive for proposed initiatives 46 and 82

Denver, August 27, 2012 - Today, Secretary of State Scott Gessler announced that the proposed ballot measures concerning “Application of the term of person” and “Colorado Congressional Delegation to Support Campaign Finance Limits” both require verification of all submitted signatures.

Proponents of Initiative 46 “Application of the term of person” submitted 106,119 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office on August 6. Staff immediately began verifying a random sample of the signatures. This five-percent sample is selected by computer. The results are as follows:

Random Sample Summary:

• Total number of qualified signatures submitted: 106,119
• 5% of qualified signatures submitted (random sample): 5,306
• Total number of entries accepted (valid) from random sample: 4,290
• Total number of entries rejected (invalid) from random sample: 1,016
• Number of projected valid signatures from random sample: 85,800

Proponents of Initiative 82 “Colorado Congressional Delegation to Support Campaign Finance Limits” submitted 182,090 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office also on August 6. The results of the random sample are as follows:

Random Sample Summary:

• Total number of qualified signatures submitted: 182,090
• 5% of qualified signatures submitted (random sample): 9,105
• Total number of entries accepted (valid) from random sample: 4,547
• Total number of entries rejected (invalid) from random sample: 4,558
• Number of projected valid signatures from random sample: 90,935

Because the percentage of presumed valid signatures falls between 90 percent and 110 percent of the 86,105 valid signatures needed, the office is required to perform a line-by-line analysis of every signature submitted for both initiatives. Each measure will need to have at least 86,105 valid signatures to be placed on the November ballot.

The Secretary of State’s office has until September 5, 2012 to issue statements of sufficiency or insufficiency for the ballot questions.