Colorado Congressional Redistricting Initiative (2018)
| Colorado Congressional Redistricting Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 6, 2018 | |
| Topic Redistricting measures | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Colorado Congressional Redistricting Initiative (#170) was not on the ballot in Colorado as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 6, 2018.
This initiative was designed to do the following:[1][2]
- Establish a 12-member commission responsible for the redistricting of the state's congressional districts;
- Require four commissioners to be registered with the state's largest political party, four to be registered with the state's second largest political party, and four that are not registered with any political party;
- Establish the qualifications and selection process for the commissioners;
- Establish guidelines and requirements for any district map created by the commission;
- Give the judicial branch authority to review any district map created by the commission, and
- Mandate disclosures of any lobbying of the commissioner within 72 hours; and
- Provide opportunities for constituents to testify at hearings across the state.
The sponsors of this initiative also filed an initiative (#95) with similar provisions to establish a commission for congressional redistricting and an initiative (#96) with similar provisions to establish a commission for state legislative redistricting. Both were withdrawn.
Text of measure
Full text
- The full text of the measure is available here.
Ballot title
The ballot titles for the different versions of the initiative are below:[2]
| Initiative 170 ballot title | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning congressional redistricting, and, in connection therewith, establishing a commission and transferring the state legislature’s responsibility to draw congressional district maps to the commission; establishing the criteria to be met by new district maps; prohibiting maps drawn to protect any candidate for congress or political party and maps drawn to dilute or that have the effect of diluting the electoral influence of any racial, ethnic, or language minority group; prioritizing the preservation of communities of interest and certain political subdivisions; to the extent possible, maximizing the number of competitive districts; specifying the qualifications and methods of appointment of commissioners, 4 of whom must be registered with the state’s largest political party, 4 of whom must be registered with the state’s second largest political party, and 4 of whom must not be registered with any political party; prohibiting certain persons, including professional lobbyists, elected federal, state, county, or city officials, candidates for federal elective office, and campaign employees, from serving on the commission; requiring at least 8 of the 12 commissioners, including at least 2 commissioners who are not registered with any political party, to approve a redistricting map; and limiting judicial review of a map to a determination by the supreme court that the commission or its nonpartisan staff committed an abuse of discretion? | |||||
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Colorado, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 5 percent of the total number of votes cast for the office of Colorado secretary of state in the preceding general election. For initiated constitutional amendments, signature gathering must be distributed to include signatures equal to 2 percent of the registered voters who live in each of the state's 35 senate districts.
State law provides that petitioners have six months to collect signatures after the ballot language and title are finalized. State statutes require a completed signature petition to be filed three months and three weeks before the election at which the measure would appear on the ballot. The Constitution, however, states that the petition must be filed three months before the election at which the measure would appear. The secretary of state generally lists a date that is three months before the election as the filing deadline.
Constitutional amendments in Colorado require a 55% supermajority vote to be ratified and added to the state constitution. This requirement was added by Amendment 71 of 2016.
The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2018 ballot:
- Signatures: 98,492 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was August 6, 2018.
The secretary of state is responsible for signature verification. Verification is conducted through a review of petitions regarding correct form and then a 5 percent random sampling verification. If the sampling projects between 90 percent and 110 percent of required valid signatures, a full check of all signatures is required. If the sampling projects more than 110 percent of the required signatures, the initiative is certified. If less than 90 percent, the initiative fails.
Details about this initiative
- Carla Cecilia Castedo and Jayson Daniel Sime submitted this initiative on April 6, 2018.[2]
- A ballot title was issued for this initiative on April 18, 2018.[2]
- The measure did not qualify for the November 2018 ballot because it had either (a) never been cleared for signature gathering, (b) was abandoned by sponsors, or (c) otherwise reached a certain stage in the initiative process, but did not make the ballot.
See also
External links
Footnotes
 |
State of Colorado Denver (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
