Colorado Personhood Coalition Files Lawsuit in Attempt To Qualify Amendment for Ballot

October 3, 2012 — The Colorado Personhood Coalition has filed suit in Denver District Court challenging the state's finding that the group collected too few signatures to qualify a "personhood" amendment for the November ballot, the Denver Post reports (Draper, Denver Post, 9/28).

The measure seeks to amend the state constitution to say that protections of life apply to "all human beings at any stage of development" (Women's Health Policy Report, 9/13).

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler on Aug. 29 announced that the group was short by 3,859 signatures.

Personhood USA founder Keith Mason said the state improperly rejected more than 6,800 signatures from registered voters because of minor irregularities.

State officials have noted that even if a court agrees that enough signatures were collected, the measure could not appear on the ballot until 2014. Mason said the decision would be up to a judge, adding that "either 2012 or 2014 is fine with us" (Denver Post, 9/28).