Council, public to get glimpse of Boulder’s new online petitioning system

By Shay Castle. Originally published on the Boulder Beat on October 10, 2020.

"Council may also choose to codify its interpretation of conflicting state and local election rules by stating, definitively, that Colorado law governs charter amendment petitions. In Bedrooms Are For People’s lawsuit against the city, District Judge Andrew MacDonald noted existing conflicts in the language and the difficulty they presented for residents—or even legal professionals—to understand.

If council makes that interpretation permanent, it would require double the signatures for charter amendment petitions in even-year elections and give campaigns 90 days to collect them, halving what Boulder previously provided. The change would come among numerous steps Boulder has taken in recent years to lessen barriers, including lowering signature thresholds for other types of direct democracy and this pursuit of online signatures."

Read the full story on the Boulder Beat.