The effort to recall Colorado Senate President John Morse charged forward Tuesday with the secretary of state's office announcing that organizers submitted more than enough valid signatures to produce the first-ever recall election of a lawmaker in the state.
Secretary of state officials said that organizers with the El Paso Freedom Defense Committee's effort obtained 10,137 valid signatures from the roughly 16,200 signatures the group turned in earlier this month. To spark a recall, they needed just 7,178 verified, and they outpaced that figure by about 3,000 votes.
But supporters of Morse argued Tuesday the petition language used was incomplete and the recall effort should be set aside.
Morse, a Colorado Springs Democrat, is the target of a recall for his leadership on the party's passage of tougher gun control laws in this year's legislative session, and Tuesday's announcement is certain to send reverberations nationally as the gun debate has created gridlock among Democrats and Republicans in Congress and in state capitols across the country.
Thousands of dollars in undisclosed cash from national organizations have already flooded into the recall effort from both sides.
"This is certainly becoming about more than John Morse and the voters in his El Paso County District," said Bob Loevy, a professor emeritus of political science at Colorado College.
The undisclosed cash from national organizations has poured into the recall effort from both sides, with Morse supporters significantly outraising recall organizers. The group backing Morse raised $97,500 in May, compared with the $56,000 of recall organizers.
Since organizers began knocking on front doors and gathering in grocery store parking lots in an effort to collect signatures, Morse has remained adamant he's prepared for a fight and potentially "the campaign of a lifetime."
In 2010, Morse won his El Paso County district — which resides in one of the most conservative pockets of the state — by less than 350 votes and raked in a total of 13,866 votes.
A Whole Lot of People for John Morse, the group backing him, said Tuesday its protest "would nullify the purported sufficiency of the signatures."
They argued the organizers failed to use proper language as defined by the Colorado Constitution requiring petitions "expressly include a demand for the election of a successor to the recalled official."
Mark Grueskin, a prominent election lawyer who is representing a Morse constituent who filed the legal challenge with the secretary of state Tuesday, said, "The constitution is clear, just as the courts are clear: No recall petition is valid without this specific language."
In a recall election, the ballot asks two questions: Should "so and so" be recalled, and "if so, then who should" be the successor.
Grueskin said organizers failed to use such wording in their petition language that notifies signers that a recall is a two-part process.
Article 21, Section 1 of state constitution says that recall petitions ask for "an election of the successor to the officer named in said petition."
The recall petition's plain language doesn't appear to contain information relating to a successor being picked.
The secretary of state's office now has 30 days to consider the protest and come to a decision, according to a spokesman. Once a decision is made, it could move to court.
"I don't think the protest is based on an accurate reading of the state constitution," said Richard
Westfall, legal counsel for the state's Republican party and a specialist in election and constitutional law. "The state constitution very much protects a citizen's right to recall elected officials. A hyper-technical argument suggested by Sen. Morse's attorneys would unduly limit the citizens' rights to recall their elected officials."
The El Paso County clerk and recorder has estimated a recall election would cost taxpayers at least $150,000.
Morse's colleague Sen. Angela Giron, D-Pueblo, is also bracing for a possible recall election. Organizers in her district submitted about 13,000 signatures last week and need 11,285 of those verified.
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