In order to recall a state officeholder (Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, members of the General Assembly, members of the State Board of Education, members of the CU Board of Regents, members of the RTD Board of Directors, and District Attorney), a recall petition must be created and approved by the Secretary of State’s office prior to obtaining signatures. Recall petitions for county offices must be approved by the county clerk & recorder prior to circulation. Members of Congress and US Senators may not be recalled.

An elected official must hold office for 6 months before a recall can be attempted (this rule does not apply to members of the General Assembly, who can be recalled 5 days after the start of the legislative session). No recall petition may be circulated or filed against any elected officer whose office is up for election within six months.

The signature threshold to place a recall question on the ballot for a state or county elected official is 25% of the total votes cast at the last preceding general election for that office.

If a recall petition is found to have a sufficient number of valid signatures, the question of whether to recall the officeholder is placed on the ballot. Below the recall question on the ballot, recall successor candidates will be listed as choices for voters—the officeholder being recalled cannot be a successor candidate. Recall successor candidates access the ballot via the petition rules in 1-4-801 and 1-4-802 of Colorado Revised Statutes.

For laws and rules on recall elections, please refer to Article XXI of the Colorado state constitution (PDF), Article 12 of Title I (PDF) of the Colorado Revised Statutes, and Rule 15 (PDF) of Secretary of State Election Rules.

Recall petitions approved for circulation