1-4-803. Petitions for nominating school district directors
Overview of Statute
To run for the office of school director of a school district with less than 1,000 enrolled students, a candidate must file a nomination petition signed by at least 25 eligible voters in the district. In districts with 1,000 or more enrolled students, candidates must file petitions signed by 50 eligible voters in the district. The petition signatories can be found anywhere in the district, regardless of the district’s plan of representation. Eligible voters can sign as many petitions as they can vote for candidates.
Further provisions include the petition cannot be circulated more than 90 days before the election, the petition must be filed by the 67th day before the election, candidates cannot run as affiliated with a political party, and candidates must have maintained voter registration in the district for at least twelve months before the election.
Statute
(1) (a) Any person who desires to be a candidate for the office of school director in a school district in which fewer than one thousand students are enrolled shall file a nomination petition signed by at least twenty-five eligible electors from throughout the school district, regardless of the school district’s plan of representation. Any person who desires to be a candidate for the office of school director in a school district in which one thousand students or more are enrolled shall file a nomination petition signed by at least fifty eligible electors from throughout the school district, regardless of the school district’s plan of representation. An eligible elector may sign as many petitions as candidates for whom that elector may vote.
(b) A person who desires to be a candidate for the office of school director may not circulate the nomination petition for signatures prior to ninety days before the election.
(2) The nomination petition must be filed no later than sixty-seven days before the election date.
(3) If a school district has an at-large method of representation and if terms of different lengths are to be filled at a district election, candidates must designate on the nomination petition the term for which they are running.
(4) A candidate for the office of school director shall not run as a candidate of any political party for that school directorship.
(5) The candidate for the office of school director shall have been a registered elector of the school district, as shown on the books of the county clerk and recorder, for at least twelve consecutive months prior to the date of the election.
Source: L. 92: Entire part R&RE, p. 686, § 7, effective January 1, 1993. L. 93: (2) amended, p.1406, § 30, effective July 1. L. 94: (1) amended, p. 1153, § 14, effective July 1. L. 95: (1) amended, p. 831, § 30, effective July 1. L. 98: (5) amended, p. 291, § 2, effective July 1. L. 99: (1) amended, p. 468, § 1, effective April 30; (2) amended, p. 765, § 26, effective May 20. L. 2006: (1) and (5) amended, p. 1024, § 6, effective May 25. L. 2017: (1)(c) added, (SB 17-209), ch. 234, p. 947, § 3, effective August 9.
Editor’s note: Section 13 of chapter 234 (SB 17-209), Session Laws of Colorado 2017, provides that the act changing this section applies to elections conducted on or after August 9, 2017.
ANNOTATIONS
Junior colleges,
- Cross-References:
- Ballot Access
- Candidate Methods of Nomination
- Candidates for boards of trustees
- school director
- School district director elections
- Signature Requirements
- Vacancies in boards of trustees
1. Definition for Political party
Any group of registered electors who, by petition or assembly, nominate candidates for the official general election ballot. “Political party” includes affiliated party organizations at the state, county, and election district levels, and all such affiliates are considered to be a single entity for the purposes of this article, except as otherwise provided in section 7. Section 2(13) of article XXVIII of the state constitution.
2. Definition for Person
Any natural person, partnership, committee, association, corporation, labor organization, political party, or other organization or group of persons. Section 2(11) of article XXVIII of the state constitution.
3. Definition for Section
A bound compilation of initiative forms approved by the secretary of state, which shall include pages that contain the warning required by section 1-40-110 (1), the ballot title, the abstract required by section 1-40-110 (3), and a copy of the proposed measure; succeeding pages that contain the warning, the ballot title, and ruled lines numbered consecutively for registered electors’ signatures; and a final page that contains the affidavit required by section 1-40-111 (2). Each section shall be consecutively prenumbered by the petitioner prior to circulation.
4. Definition for Election
Any election under the “Uniform Election Code of 1992” or the “Colorado Municipal Election Code of 1965”, article 10 of title 31, C.R.S. C.R.S. § 1-7.5-103.
5. Definition for Candidate
Any person who seeks nomination or election to any state or local public office that is to be voted on in this state at any primary election, general election, school district election, special district election, or municipal election. “Candidate” also includes a judge or justice of any court of record who seeks to be retained in office pursuant to the provisions of section 25 of article VI. A person is a candidate for election if the person has publicly announced an intention to seek election to public office or retention of a judicial office and thereafter has received a contribution or made an expenditure in support of the candidacy. A person remains a candidate for purposes of this article so long as the candidate maintains a registered candidate committee. A person who maintains a candidate committee after an election cycle, but who has not publicly announced an intention to seek election to public office in the next or any subsequent election cycle, is a candidate for purposes of this article. Section 2(2) of article XXVIII of the state constitution.
Cases
Colorado Cases
Case Name: Hanlen v. Gessler
Citation: 333 P.3d 41 (Colo. 2014)
Year: 2014
Case URL: https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/981336a95d3689adc8b42406ab7bafa6
Case Summary: Holding that Secretary of State acted in excess of his rulemaking authority in making rule that permitted designated election official to determine, after ballots had been printed, that an individual appearing on the ballot was not qualified for office, and directed that votes cast for that individual were invalid.