Backers of automatic voter registration through MVD get approval to try to get issue on the November ballot

DENVER, March 11, 2016 -- Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams announced today that the backers of a proposed measure concerning voter registration have completed the necessary steps to begin collecting voter signatures to try to get the issue on the 2016 general election ballot.

Under proposed Initiative No. 57, eligible residents who apply for a Colorado driver’s license are automatically added to the voter rolls. Those Coloradans are then sent a card asking them to select their party affiliation. They have 21 days to decline being automatically registered to vote.

The language is as follows:

Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning voter registration through driver's license examination facilities, and, in connection therewith, requiring automatic registration of any individual who is legally qualified to vote in Colorado and who applies or has applied within the last five years for the issuance, renewal, or correction of a driver's license or state-issued identification card; and requiring the secretary of state to send such an individual notice of the automatic registration and the processes by which the individual may decline to be registered or adopt a political party affiliation?

The organizers behind Initiative No. 57 must collect 98,492 valid voter signatures and submit them by 3 p.m. June 24 to the Secretary of State’s office for review.

The measure, filed by Scott Cadiz and Jason Legg of Denver, is a statutory proposal, meaning it would change state law, not the state Constitution.

In addition to No. 57, two other measures have been approved for collecting signatures: No. 47 “Iran Divestment of Funds” and No. 53 “Independent Ethics Commission."

Already on the ballot is Proposed Initiative 20. Backers were informed last November they had collected enough signatures to put "Colorado Care" on the 2016 ballot.