2008 Colorado Amendment 46

Amendment 46, also known as the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, was a proposed initiative on the Colorado ballot for 2008. If ratified, Article II of the Colorado Constitution would have stated:

The State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.

Amendment 46

November 4, 2008
Discrimination and Preferential Treatment by Governments
Results
Choice Votes  % Yes 1,102,046 49.19% No 1,138,134 50.81% Total votes 2,240,180 100.00%
For   50–60% Against   60–70%   50–60%

Controversy

The proposed initiative was sponsored by Californian Ward Connerly. In April, 2008, a Colorado group sued, claiming that over 69,000 signatures on the ballot petition were invalid.^[1] Some citizens also claimed that they signed the petition through voter fraud.^[2]

Governor Bill Ritter opposed the amendment,^[3] along with the Colorado Council of Churches.^[4]

Petition company

National Ballot Access was hired to manage this petition drive.^[5][6]

Result

Amendment 46^[7]

Choice	Votes	%
No	1,138,134	50.81
Yes	1,102,046	49.19
Total votes	2,240,180	100.00

Aftermath

Initiatives with the same language have been introduced and approved in five other states, including California (1996), Washington (1998), Michigan (2006), Nebraska (2008), and Arizona (2010); Colorado was the first state where it was defeated. On December 17, 2010 the University of Colorado at Boulder released a report^[8] analyzing the factors that led to the defeat of Amendment 46. According to the study, "...Coloradans overwhelmingly intended to support affirmative action on Election Day; arguably, were Amendment 46 a clearly worded referendum on attitudes toward affirmative action, it would have failed by a much wider margin: 66 to 34 percent." The report also found that (a) many voters were confused by the initiative, (b) voters who followed the measure in the media were more likely to oppose it, and (c) proposed alternative initiatives in support of equal opportunity contributed to the measure's defeat.^[9]

References

1. David Montero (April 24, 2008). "Suit filed over Amendment 46", Rocky Mountain News.
2. Blake Wesley (April 16, 2008). "Colorado Anti-Affirmative Action Legislation Amendment 46 Archived 2008-10-10 at the Wayback Machine", electionunspun.org.
3. Jerd Smith (September 29, 2008). "Ritter: Amendment 46 'undercuts Colorado'", Rocky Mountain News.
4. Associated Press (June 10, 2008). "Group Opposes Anti-Affirmative Action Measure^{[permanent dead link‍]}", KCNC-TV.
5. Dan Hayes Denver Ballot Proposal A Success The Minutemen Civil Defense Corps
6. Unions may lose a labor-state The Union News, April 10, 2008
7. Buescher, Bernie (June 29, 2009). "Official Publication of the Abstract of Votes Cast for the 2008 Primary 2008 General" (PDF). Secretary of State of Colorado. Retrieved October 3, 2024.^{[dead link‍]}
8. Michele Moses, et al (September, 2010). "Investigating the Defeat of Colorado's Amendment 46: An Analysis of the Trends and Principal Factors Influencing Voter Behaviors. Archived 2011-10-13 at the Wayback Machine", Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights.
9. Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights (December 17, 2010). "Report Analyzes Successful Campaign to Defeat Colorado's Anti-Equal Opportunity Ballot Measure. Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine"