By Nick Coltrain
The Denver Post
(TNS)
DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court on Friday shot down an attempt to nullify the vote on Amendment 87, allowing the proposal to raise taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents to proceed.
The lawsuit, filed by conservative activist Michael Hancock, sought to stop the vote on the amendment on procedural grounds by alleging that its backers used paid signature gatherers who weren’t following state registration rules. The lawsuit was filed in mid-September, about two weeks after the ballot was certified and three weeks before voters started receiving their ballots in the mail.
A Denver District Court judge ruled Oct. 21 that Hancock “did not meet his burden” to establish that any failure by the petition gatherers equaled a violation of laws meant to prevent misconduct in the petition process.
One of the alleged problems was that a handful of signature gatherers did not complete training conducted by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. They did, however, receive training about laws governing petitioning from the proponents.
On Friday, the state Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s decision in a short, unsigned order. A full opinion w...