Anti-Fracking Measures Fail to Make Colorado Ballot – Questions Raised about “Potentially Forged” Signatures
Monday August 29, 2016
Colorado election officials have determined that national activist groups pushing a pair of anti-fracking initiatives that have faced strong bipartisan opposition, failed to collect enough signatures for the measures to go before the state’s voters this fall. They are also raising questions over whether the group turned in “potentially forged” signatures found during the review process. From a Colorado Secretary of State press release announcing the results of their signature review:
“Two proposed ballot measures aimed at adding more limitations on oil and natural gas drilling in Colorado failed to make the November ballot because supporters didn’t collect enough valid voter signatures, Secretary of State Wayne Williams announced today.”
The release also notes some irregularities found during the signature review:
“Of note: For No. 78, the petition processing team identified a petition section that contains several potentially forged signature lines. Although the Secretary of State does not conduct signature verification when reviewing petitions, our office has referred the questionable section to the Attorney General’s office for investigation. The section, numbered 2109, had no lines marked for review in the random sample.” (emphasis added)
The finding of “potentially forged” signatures is particularly disturbing as one of the leading activist groups behind the effort has been caught forging signatures before. In a petition seeking a moratorium on fracking in California, Food & Water Watch was caught red-handed adding the names of a pair of bakery owners to the list. When it was brought to their attention, the business owners responded via their Facebook page writing:
“Much to our chagrin, it was brought to our attention that our name and business was linked to a signed petition in regards to fracking. We honestly have no idea how this came...