By Amber McIver-Traywick

The Surveyor

Six months to the day after taking office, Gov. Jared Polis became the first governor of Colorado to face a recall effort.

The Colorado Secretary of State’s office approved the petition format for Dismiss Polis, an issue committee focused solely on getting the funding to print the number of petitions needed in their effort.

If the group succeeds in their efforts it will be the first time a sitting Colorado governor has ever faced recall.

Dismiss Polis organizers say they are seeking to recall Polis due to several bills he signed during the 2019 legislative sessions, including the National Popular Vote Compact bill, the “red flag” bill, which enables courts to temporarily prohibit individuals from possessing a firearm, and the local control-oil-and-gas measure.

Proponents of the effort face a monumental effort to collect 631,266 valid signatures from registered voters by Sept. 6. The group has stated their goal is to obtain 900,000 signatures total and plan on printing 15,000 packets with 1.2 million signature lines that will be distributed across Colorado in all 64 counties over the next week. To meet the required numbers for a recall the group must gather signatures from 25 percent of the number of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election in 2018.

In response to the effort Democratic Party Chair Morgan Carroll said, “Instead of learning how to run better candidates, who are better on the issues for Coloradans, the Colorado GOP is just showing they’ve been hijacked by extremists who are more interested in ridiculous recalls to overthrow elections than actually moving Colorado forward.”

According to a press release sent out by the group, their current focus is finding volunteer support for their effort. In order to sign the petition a person must sign in person and cannot do so online. You cannot sign for another person, only for yourself. Proponents must also sign the petition exactly as their name appears on their voter registration. Several kick-off events are planned across the state, including locations in Loveland and Greeley. Volunteers can sign up to help distribute and get more information about the petition signing and packet pick-up locations by visiting www.dismisspolis.com or emailing [email protected].