Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008
For Immediate Release:

DENVER — The Colorado Secretary of State announced today that Initiative 82, a ballot initiative designed to preserve race and gender preferences in public hiring, public contracting, and public education, will not appear on this November's statewide ballot.

"We know that signature gathering campaigns are very difficult, but given the fact that this campaign was designed to confuse voters, we're extremely pleased with the result," said Jessica Peck Corry, executive director of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative (Amendment 46). "It's the right decision and we look forward to an election where voters will be able to have an honest conversation about the role of race and gender in government hiring, contracting, and education."

On Wednesday afternoon, the Secretary of State announced that the Initiative 82 campaign was deemed "insufficient" for failing "to reach required number of valid signatures." An initial random sample analysis of the submitted signatures, as required under state statute, determined that the campaign fell short, thus triggering a line-by-line analysis of every signature submitted.

As analyzed by the Secretary of State, Initiative 82 submitted 117,871 signatures. Of these, 49,676 signatures were rejected as invalid, leaving a total of 68,195 valid signatures—well below the required 76,047 required to make it onto the November ballot.

Initiative 82 was proposed earlier this year in response to the Secretary of State's approval of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, which submitted nearly 130,000 signatures. Initiative 82 got a late start gathering signatures after the state's title setting board questioned whether it violated Colorado's single subject rule by introducing language that could deceive or confuse voters.

The Colorado Civil Rights Initiative is a proposed constitutional amendment reading: "The state shall not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to any group or individual on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public contracting, or public education." Initiative 82 used this exact language, adding a single sentence where preferential treatment was defined as "adopting quotas or awarding points solely on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin." Such practices are already prohibited under federal law and thus, Initiative 82 would have preserved current law without adding any civil rights protections.

"The time has come to demand that government treat us all fairly, without regard to our race or sex," Corry added. "With the Secretary of State's announcement today we are one step closer to realizing this dream."

--CoCRI--

Read the Secretary of State media release here