h_sa_2017a_2017-03-23t11:17:05z0 Hearing Summary

Date: 03/23/2017

Location: LSB A

11:17 AM -- HB17-1088



Representative Neville, bill sponsor, presented House Bill 17-1088 and amendment L.003 (Attachment A). The bill requires the Department of State to compare each signature on a candidate petition with the signature stored in the statewide voter registration system (SCORE) for any candidate petition filed for an election conducted on or after January 1, 2018. Under current law, voter information including address and voter eligibility is validated, but signatures are not compared.



17HouseState0323AttachA.pdf



Beginning January 1, 2020, the Department of State must compare each signature on any ballot issue petition with the signature stored in SCORE, once it has been established that the issue petition has a sufficient number of signatures through random sampling. Under current law, signatures on ballot issue petitions are verified using random sampling with at least 4,000 signatures, or up to five percent of the signatures being verified. Similar to candidate petitions, signatures on issue petitions are validated by checking information including address and voter eligibility, but the signatures are not compared.



This bill also requires the Department of State to create a voluntary pilot program to test an electronic petition process in coordination with the county clerks.



11:19 AM -- Elizabeth Steele, Colorado Common Cause, testified in support of the bill.



11:20 AM -- Wayne Williams, Colorado Secretary of State, testified in support of the bill. Secretary Williams answered questions from the committee.



11:38 AM -- Martha Tierney, America Votes, testified in support of the bill. Ms. Tierney answered questions from the committee.

11:42 AM



Representative Neville made concluding remarks about the bill. Committee members commented on the bill.