(1) Not later than sixty days before the presidential primary election, the secretary of state shall certify the names and party affiliations of the candidates to be placed on any presidential primary election ballots. The only candidates whose names shall be placed on ballots for the election shall be those candidates who:
Repealed.
Are seeking the nomination for president of a political party as a bona fide candidatefor president of the United States pursuant to political party rules and are affiliated with a major political party that received at least twenty percent of the votes cast by eligible electors in Colorado at the last presidential election; and
Have submitted to the secretary, not later than eighty-five days before the date of thepresidential primary election, a notarized candidate's statement of intent together with either a nonrefundable filing fee of five hundred dollars or a petition signed by at least five thousand eligible electors affiliated with the candidate's political party who reside in the state. Candidate petitions must meet the requirements of parts 8 and 9 of this article 4, as applicable.
(1.5) No later than the sixty-fifth day before the presidential primary election, a person whose name has been qualified to be placed on the ballot may file with the secretary of state an affidavit stating that the person is not a candidate for the office of the president of the United States and requesting that the person's name not be included in the list of names certified by the secretary of state in accordance with subsection (1) of this section. The secretary of state shall not include in the list the name of a person who timely files an affidavit.
The names of candidates appearing on any presidential primary ballot must be in anorder determined by lot. The secretary of state shall determine the method of drawing lots.
Except as otherwise prohibited by political party rules, the state chairperson of apolitical party may request the secretary to provide a place on the primary ballot for electors who have no presidential candidate preference to register a vote to send a noncommitted delegate to the political party's national convention. To be valid, this request must be received by the secretary of state no later than seventy days before the presidential primary election.
Any challenge to the listing of any candidate on the presidential primary electionballot must be made in writing and filed with the district court in accordance with section 1-1113 (1) no later than five days after the filing deadline for candidates. Any such challenge must provide notice in a summary manner of an alleged impropriety that gives rise to the complaint. No later than five days after the challenge is filed, a hearing must be held at which time the district court shall hear the challenge and assess the validity of all alleged improprieties. The district court shall issue findings of fact and conclusions of law no later than forty-eight hours after the hearing. The party filing the challenge has the burden to sustain the challenge by a preponderance of the evidence. Any order entered by the district court may be reviewed in accordance with section 1-1-113 (3).
Source: Initiated 2016: Entire part RC, Proposition 107, effective upon proclamation of the Governor, December 27, 2016. See L. 2017, p. 2818. L. 2017: (1)(c) and (4) amended, (SB 17-305), ch. 216, p. 843, § 4, effective August 9. L. 2019: (1)(a) repealed and (1.5) added, (HB 19-1278), ch. 326, p. 3019, § 26, effective August 2.
Cross references: For the short title ("Colorado Votes Act") in HB 19-1278, see section 1 of chapter 326, Session Laws of Colorado 2019.