CO Secretary Of State Confirms Enough Signatures For Recall Of Morse

The Colorado Secretary of State's Office has confirmed that the backers of a recall election for Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) submitted more than enough signatures to force a recall.

The Denver Post reports that the El Paso Freedom Defense Committee obtained 10,137 valid signatures out of over 16,000 submitted. They only needed 7,178 verified signatures to force the recall.

Morse supporters are trying to say that the recall petition had "improper language" and should be tossed out.

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.

The legal counsel for the Colorado Republican Party dismisses this argument saying that the state constitution protects the people's right to call for a recall election.