Eleven statewide ballot measures are certified to appear on the November 3 ballot in Colorado. Ballotpedia identified 28 committees supporting and opposing 10 of the measures. The 28 committees had raised $23,369,532.55 and had spent $19,235,702.73 according to reports filed on September 8 that covered information through September 2. The next reports are due on September 21.
Eight of the 11 measures on the ballot were placed on the ballot through citizen petition drives and concern topics including wolf reintroduction, abortion restrictions, citizenship requirements for voting, paid medical leave, and taxes.
The citizen-initiated measures are Amendments 76 and 77 and Propositions 113 through 118. Campaigns surrounding the citizen-initiated measures raised 89.7% of the funds ($20.97 million) and accounted for 92% of the expenditures ($17.7 million of the $19.2 million total).
Campaigns surrounding the measures spent a combined total of $7.38 million on signature gathering costs. The campaigns to place Propositions 113 and 115 on the ballot used volunteers to collect signatures and therefore did not spend money on signature gathering. Proposition 113 will determine whether or not Colorado will join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Proposition 115 would prohibit abortion after 22 weeks gestational age.
Seven citizen-initiatives were on the ballot in Colorado in November 2018, second only to California with eight. A total of $7.33 million was spent on petition drives by committees behind the citizen-initiated measures that qualified for the 2018 ballot.
The state legislature referred a state statute to the November 2020 ballot that would increase tobacco taxes and create a new e-cigarette tax to fund various health and education programs (Proposition EE). The committee supporting Proposition EE (A Brighter, Healthier Future for Colorado’s Kids) raised $2.4 million. Opponents (No on EE– A Bad Deal for Colorado) had not yet reported campaign finance activity.
The state legislature referred two constitutional amendments: Amendment B, which would repeal the Gallagher Amendment and freeze current property tax assessment rates, and Amendment C, which would amend charitable gaming requirements.
Colorado Coming Together, supporting Amendment B, raised $50. Keep Property Taxes Low, opposing Amendment B, raised $2,050.
Ballotpedia did not identify committees supporting or opposing Amendment C, which would lower the number of years an organization must have existed before obtaining a charitable gaming license from five years to three years and to allow charitable organizations to hire managers and operators of gaming activities so long as they are not paid more than the minimum wage.
In 2018, Ballotpedia tracked $1.185 billion in contributions to the ballot measure campaigns supporting and opposing the 167 certified 2018 measures and $1.16 billion in expenditures by those campaigns. Campaigns supporting and opposing the 13 statewide ballot measures on the 2018 ballot in Colorado raised $70.4 million, ranking Colorado #6 among states with the highest ballot measure campaign contributions in 2018. California was #1 with $369 million.