Secretary Williams: Three more candidates make the ballot

DENVER, March 29, 2018 -- Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams announced today that U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn has successfully petitioned onto the ballot in Congressional District 5, as has Democratic challenger Saira Rao in Congressional District 1.

Lamborn, a Colorado Springs Republican, was first elected to Congress in 2006. Three other Republicans turned in petitions for the same seat and  El Paso County Commissioner Daryl Glenn already has been notified he made the ballot.

Rao is challenging U.S. Rep. Diane DeGette of Denver in the Democratic primary. DeGette was first elected in 1996.

In addition, Democrat Nicky Yollick, who is running for state House District 5 in Denver, has made the ballot. Three other Democrats also are petitioning onto the ballot for that seat, but their petitions are still being reviewed.

All three candidates were required to turn in 1,000 valid voter signatures from members of their own party within their district.

Colorado law now allows petitioners a chance to "cure" non-matching signatures and other technical problems, such as the wrong date on a circulator affidavit. That gives candidates the ability to fix issues without having to go to court. Previously judges had much more leeway to accept signatures that the Secretary of State's office had to reject by law, leading to legal challenges.

Lamborn's numbers:

Turned in: 1,783

Rejected: 514

Accepted: 1,269

Rao's numbers:

Turned in: 1,702

Rejected: 409

Accepted: 1,293

Yollick's  numbers:

Turned in: 1,398

Rejected: 252

Accepted: 1,146

Candidates who planned to petition onto the primary ballot were allowed to begin collecting signatures on Jan. 16, and required to turn them in by March 20. In all, 45 candidates, including six running for governor, submitted petitions. Our office releases results after the petitions are reviewed, and notes when candidates have been declared sufficient. Here is that list.

The more common way to get on the ballot for the primary is to go through the assembly process, which began with neighborhood caucuses on March.

Statements of sufficiency

Lamborn (PDF)

Rao (PDF)

Yollick (PDF)