Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Recall Too - Part 4, Process

The Colorado courts have ruled that a ballot initiative to ask for a $1Bn tax increase will have a fairly low standard for the process:
However, in his ruling, Mullins said the Amendment 66 campaign did indeed meet the legal test for “strict compliance” with election laws, but even if it didn’t, Mullins said Hagedorn’s side ignored 19 years of state Supreme Court precedents that give ballot campaigns leeway to comply with the law even if they don’t have all their paperwork technically perfect.
So "strict" doesn't actually mean "strict" in this case.

What we're finding out with the recall petitions is that if a petition is signed by
John Q. Public
28 Mockingbird Ln

This is NOT the same as the voter registered there with the secretary of State:
John Quincy Public
28 Mockingbird Ln

Hence we are looking up everyone who signs to make sure they use the same signing format as they did when they registered. Do you know what you put down when you registered? Most people don't.

The process is on track at this point. Different municipalities have different standards for doing this sort of thing, and we find out about them as we go along. As long as we're not blocking a sidewalk, Westminister and Broomfield don't care. Evie has friends in Arvada however and our tables get regular visits from Arvada municipal busybodies with tape measures and some without warning us that we must be 12 feet back from the curb with stationary signs although standing on the sidewalk with one is O.K.

Having a creepy guy sit in his Caddy in the parking lot behind us and watch us carefully all day long is likewise entertaining. That job must pay well. At another location someone sat in his car and videotaped us until one of the petitioners went over and took his picture with his cell phone whereupon the cinematographer departed posthaste.

The Durango Herald and the Colo Spgs Gazette are turning out to be much better sources of actual news than the Denver Pest.

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