The statewide initiative proposal process leaves rural Colorado, agriculture producers, hunters and anglers, and the bulk of reasonable voters on both sides of the aisle as fish in the proverbial barrel. It is absurd not to require a percentage of signatures be gathered from electors in each of the state’s counties to qualify the initiative for placement on the statewide ballot.

Before a ballot proposal reaches the ballot, it must go before the Title Board which consists of the secretary of state, the attorney general, and the director of the Office of Legislative Legal Services or their designees. To be granted a title, the language must be brief, unambiguous and in the form of a single question that can be answered on a ballot by casting either a yes or no vote. Once a title is set, proponents may begin gathering signatures. For rural Colorado, this is where it gets gnarly. To be placed on the ballot, the signature requirement is at least 5% of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for the office of secretary of state at the previous general election”. Article V, Section 1(3) of the Colorado Constitution also requires the same number of signatures for a statewide referendum petition.

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The total number of votes cast for all candidates for the office of secretary of state at the Nov. 8, 2022, general election was 2,484,758. As a result, the signature requirement for statewide initiative petitions and statewide referendum petitions for 2023 through 2026 is 124,238. Initiatives that wish to make a change to the Colorado constitution must be signed by at least 2% of the total registered electors in each of the 35 Colorado state Senate districts in addition to meeting the requirements outlined above (Article V, Section 1(4) of the Colorado constitution).

As I’ve said before, the initiative need not be reasonable, accurate, or a good idea. It just needs a single subject and receive enough valid signatures. Unicorns could be reintroduced to Crowley County if proponents could get the signatures.

It’s not inaccurate or unfair to venture outside dollars fund the majority of ballot initiatives in Colorado, certainly the case with the wolf reintroduction. It is tone deaf for voters not to require signature gathering occur in every Colorado county. It is inappropriate that electors sympathetic to these initiatives be targeted for signatures without proponents ever stepping foot outside the Denver/Boulder area. Not only do metro voters alone then have the power to place a question on the ballot, but also the lion’s share of votes to make it so. Signature gathering should take place in every county, even the ones the proponents know won’t support the initiative and the ones they can’t find without the intervention of Google. That is, after all, the point of asking people for their support to send a question to a vote.

Though not statewide, in the City and County of Denver, Pro Animal Future has qualified two questions on the November ballot that align with their goal to “end factory farming” and “animal farming” in the state. The two measures include a fur ban and the slaughterhouse ban. Given the young and liberal electorate in Denver, it’s not outside the scope of possibility these could pass. The consequences of both of these initiatives are far reaching, with the potential fur ban carrying consequences for the National Western Stock Show and the Annual Colorado Indian Market and Southwest Art Fest in addition to anglers who purchase flies with fur on them. I’ve written extensively about the impact the slaughterhouse ban will have on the nation’s lamb industry and it would be nothing less than devastating. Success on the Denver ballot will surely leave the extremist groups emboldened and ready to pounce on the chance at the statewide ballot.

The crowd inspired by Carole Baskin of Tiger King fame is still gathering signatures for their proposed initiative to ban mountain lion, bobcat and lynx hunting. My hope is voters have seen how poorly ballot-box biology has played out in the case of wolves and decline to sign. If not, perhaps they caught an episode starring Joe Exotic and Baskin and decided not to align themselves with these “cool cats and kittens,” as Baskin would say.

Having been raised right in the Gipper years, I have little use for additional legislation, but requiring signatures from every Colorado county as a requirement to place an initiative on the statewide ballot is logical and protects Colorado from special-interest groups and bad ideas.

Rachel Gabel writes about agriculture and rural issues. She is assistant editor of The Fence Post Magazine, the region’s preeminent agriculture publication. Gabel is a daughter of the state’s oil and gas industry and a member of one of the state’s 12,000 cattle-raising families, and she has authored children’s books used in hundreds of classrooms to teach students about agriculture.