Re: Sept. 17 editorial.
The Denver Postap editorial against Raise the Bar, Amendment 71, was disappointing and reveals a deep-seated divide between the metro area and rural Colorado. Especially frustrating is the editorial’s main complaint: the requirement for geographic diversity in signature gathering. For too long voters in rural Colorado have been left out of the discussion about what makes it onto Colorado’s ballot. If our constitution covers the entire state, then the entire state should be involved in the process with an equal voice.
Without Amendment 71, all Colorado voters will continue be subject to the annual amendment-centered political brinksmanship brought to them by political consultants, connected politicians, out-of-state activists, and other monied interests. Those seeking the easy way still can run a statutory initiative with the same signature requirements and sideboards they currently enjoy.
Protect our constitution and give all of Colorado a voice by voting “yes” on Amendment 71.
Chad Vorthmann,Centennial
The writer is executive director of the Colorado Farm Bureau.
This letter was also signed by members of Progressive 15, a regional advocacy group representing northeast Colorado counties, and Action 22, which represents southern Colorado counties.
Colorado’s current governor, all the former governors, and various groups support Amendment 71, which would change the process of gathering signatures for ballot measures.
The principle for their argument is valid; the practical application is not. Signature collectors would have to go to every state Senate district and get at least 2 percent of that districtap voters to sign the petition. Who, and what organization, will be able to do that?
Related to this, and responding to the criticism that petition gatherers are “only going to Denver and Boulder,” whatap so wrong with going to where the largest population lives to gather the signatures? That this somehow forever disenfranchises statewide voters is disingenuous at best. They all still will get to vote on the measure, assuming it gets enough signatures.
So who, and what organization, is going to be able to be successful in meeting these new restrictions? Only out-of-state, rich, special-interest groups, even more so than what we have now.
Kenneth Valero, Littleton
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