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LL 1tyof_ LEGAL COMMITTEE <br />Louisville COMMUNICATION <br />COLORADO • SINCE 1878 <br />SUBJECT: DISCUSSION/DIRECTION — SIGNATURE GATHERING FOR <br />REFERENDA PETITIONS <br />DATE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 <br />PRESENTED BY: MEREDYTH MUTH, CITY CLERK <br />KATHLEEN KELLY, CITY ATTORNEY <br />SUMMARY: <br />At the June 16 City Council meeting the Council asked the Legal Review Committee to <br />begin looking at options for a possible ballot initiative in 2021 that would ask residents if <br />they would like to amend the Charter to allow for electronic signature gathering for <br />referenda petitions. <br />The Charter states signatures for either an initiative or a referendum are to be collected <br />in compliance with the State statutes for such procedures. State statute requires a <br />petition circulator affirm by affidavit that "each signature thereon was affixed in the <br />affiant's presence." This rule therefore precludes the collection of signatures <br />electronically for these petitions. <br />Attached for you is a presentation from the recent Colorado Municipal League (CIVIL) <br />conference with some general information about national legal decisions regarding <br />petitioning and how much petitioning was done during the pandemic. <br />Staff asks the Committee to have a brief discussion of the timeline for this item moving <br />forward and how the Committee sees it fitting in the 2021 Work Plan. <br />Information from July 7 Legal Committee Packet <br />If Council wants to consider a Charter amendment to change this in 2021 here are <br />some of the issues that will need to be addressed: <br />• Under what circumstances would electronic signature gathering be allowed <br />• What type of "electronic signature" is required (a wet signature that is scanned, a <br />electronic signature, etc.) <br />• What type of signature verification will be used if any <br />• What security measures would be needed to prevent abuse <br />It should be noted that earlier this year Governor Polis issued an executive order <br />creating an exception to the in -person rule for signature collecting during this pandemic. <br />This order only affected statewide elections, not municipal elections. This was followed <br />by the Secretary of State (SOS) issuing rules on how electronic signature gathering <br />CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION <br />