Ballot initiative mechanics in Colorado

This page covers Colorado's specific rules. For the general mechanics, see how ballot initiatives work. Colorado allows citizens to propose both statutes and constitutional amendments.

Colorado's process

Colorado routes every initiative through a three-member Title Board (representatives of the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Legislative Council or Office of Legislative Legal Services) before signature-gathering can begin. The Title Board must reject any proposal covering more than one subject and sets the official ballot title. For the 2026 election, the last Title Board meeting was April 15, 2026.

Statutory measures need only the statewide signature threshold: at least 5 percent of the total votes cast for all candidates for Secretary of State in the previous general election. For the 2025-2026 cycle that's 124,238 signatures, based on the 2022 Secretary of State race. Constitutional amendments face an added geographic hurdle: signatures equal to at least 2 percent of registered electors in each of Colorado's 35 state senate districts, on top of the statewide threshold. That district-by-district requirement is meant to ensure amendments have support spread across the state rather than concentrated in Denver or other population centers.

Deadlines and numbers

• Statutory initiative: 5 percent of votes cast for Secretary of State in the last general election (124,238 for the 2025-2026 cycle)
• Constitutional amendment: statewide threshold plus 2 percent of registered electors in each of the 35 state senate districts
• Circulation window: about 180 days (six months) from Title Board title-setting
• 2026 signature filing deadline: 5:00 PM, August 3, 2026
• Last 2026 Title Board meeting: April 15, 2026

Where to go

• Colorado Secretary of State, Initiatives: coloradosos.gov, Initiatives section (signature requirements, procedures and guidelines, Title Board filings and calendar)
• Colorado General Assembly, how to file initiatives: leg.colorado.gov/how-file-initiatives

Rules

Colorado's distinguishing feature is the Title Board: a standing three-person panel that reviews every proposed measure for single-subject compliance and sets the ballot title before anyone can start collecting signatures. That front-loads the legal fight over scope, rather than letting it surface after a campaign has already spent money gathering signatures.

The two-tier signature system, a flat statewide percentage for statutes but an added district-by-district requirement for constitutional amendments, means amending the constitution is meaningfully harder than passing a statute. The raw signature number is higher, and the district requirement demands real organizing capacity in all 35 senate districts, including rural and small-population ones.

This dossier could not confirm an exact dollar filing fee to submit a proposal to the Title Board. That should be checked directly against Colorado Revised Statutes Title 1, Article 40, or by calling the Secretary of State's elections division. For help building out a signature-gathering plan, see /engage.