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Laws governing ballot measures in Colorado
Citizens of Colorado may initiate legislation as constitutional amendments, state statutes, and combined constitutional amendments and state statutes. In Colorado, citizens also have the power to repeal legislation via veto referendum.
The Colorado State Legislature may place measures on the ballot as legislatively referred constitutional amendments, legislatively referred state statutes, legislatively referred bond measures, and legislatively referred constitutional convention questions. Referred amendments and constitutional convention questions require a two-thirds (66.67%) vote from each chamber during one legislative session, while statutes and bond measures require a simple majority vote. Bond measures require the signature of the governor to appear on the ballot.
Below are links to the various types of ballot measure law Ballotpedia tracks:
- Laws governing the initiative process in Colorado
- Laws governing recall in Colorado
- Amending the Colorado Constitution
- Laws governing local ballot measures in Colorado
- Signature requirements for ballot measures in Colorado
- Campaign finance requirements for Colorado ballot measures
Ballot measure lawsuits
The following is a selection of historical lawsuits related to ballot measure law.
- Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation
- Campbell v. Buckley
- Chandler v. City of Arvada
- Meyer v. Grant
- Independence Institute v. Colorado Secretary of State
- Kerr v. Polis
