Colorado § 1-40-130 - Unlawful acts - penalty.

§ 1-40-130. Unlawful acts - penalty.

(1) It is unlawful:

(a) For any person willfully and knowingly to circulate or cause to be circulated or sign or procure to be signed any petition bearing the name, device, or motto of any person, organization, association, league, or political party, or purporting in any way to be endorsed, approved, or submitted by any person, organization, association, league, or political party, without the written consent, approval, and authorization of the person, organization, association, league, or political party;

(b) For any person to sign any name other than his or her own to any petition or knowingly to sign his or her name more than once for the same measure at one election;

(c) For any person to knowingly sign any petition who is not a registered elector at the time of signing the same;

(d) For any person to sign any affidavit as circulator without knowing or reasonably believing the statements made in the affidavit to be true;

(e) For any person to certify that an affidavit attached to a petition was subscribed or sworn to before him or her unless it was so subscribed and sworn to before him or her and unless the person so certifying is duly qualified under the laws of this state to administer an oath;

(f) For any officer or person to do willfully, or with another or others conspire, or agree, or confederate to do, any act which hinders, delays, or in any way interferes with the calling, holding, or conducting of any election permitted under the initiative and referendum powers reserved by the people in section 1 of article V of the state constitution or with the registering of electors therefor;

(g) For any officer to do willfully any act which shall confuse or tend to confuse the issues submitted or proposed to be submitted at any election, or refuse to submit any petition in the form presented for submission at any election;

(h) For any officer or person to violate willfully any provision of this article;

(i) For any person to pay money or other things of value to a registered elector for the purpose of inducing the elector to withdraw his or her name from a petition for a ballot issue;

(j) For any person to certify an affidavit attached to a petition in violation of section 1-40-111 (2)(b)(I);

(k) For any person to sign any affidavit as a circulator, unless each signature in the petition section to which the affidavit is attached was affixed in the presence of the circulator;

(l) For any person to circulate in whole or in part a petition section, unless such person is the circulator who signs the affidavit attached to the petition section.

(2) Any person, upon conviction of a violation of any provision of this section, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than one year in the county jail, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Source: L. 93: Entire article amended with relocations, p. 694, § 1, effective May 4. L. 2009: (1)(h) and (2) amended and (1)(i), (1)(j), (1)(k), and (1)(l) added, (HB 09-1326), ch. 258, p. 1178, § 16, effective May 15.

Editor's note: Subsection (1) is similar to former § 1-40-118 (2), and subsection (2) is similar to former § 1-40-118 (3), as they existed prior to 1993.

ANNOTATION

Annotator's note. The following annotations include cases decided under former provisions similar to this section.

It is clear from the provisions of the initiative and referendum act and the penalties provided thereby that the general assembly has been careful and diligent to safeguard the primary right of the people to propose and enact their own legislation. City of Rocky Ford v. Brown, 133 Colo. 262, 293 P.2d 974 (1956).

And the initiative and referendum laws, when invoked by the people, supplant the city council or representative body. City of Rocky Ford v. Brown, 133 Colo. 262, 293 P.2d 974 (1956).

Because the people undertake to legislate for themselves. City of Rocky Ford v. Brown, 133 Colo. 262, 293 P.2d 974 (1956).

And the town or city clerk is required to perform certain statutory duties, in connection therewith, for failure of which he is subject to penalties. City of Rocky Ford v. Brown, 133 Colo. 262, 293 P.2d 974 (1956).