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A Denver Court agreed yesterday to review the validity of the signatures gathered for a controversial ballot initiative that opponents say seeks to end affirmative action in Colorado.

Although Secretary of State Mike Coffman approved the signatures for Amendment 46 in May, an activist group called Vote No on 46 is claiming there “was a great deal of fraud” in collecting the signatures. Denver District Court Judge William D. Robbins agreed yesterday for a court to review a 6,403 “sample” of signatures to see if they are valid. 

“Colorado voters expect if something is put on the ballot, it will be done in law,” said Craig Hughes, spokesman for the No on 46 Campaign. “You’ve got to respect the law and process for putting an initiative on the ballot.”

The Colorado Civil Rights Institute (CCRI), a group spearheaded by Ward Connerly that is responsible for the ballot initiative, called No on 46’s attempt to have a court review the signatures deceptive. 

“We are extremely confident we that we will remain on the ballot this November,” said Jessica Peck Corry, a spokeswoman for CCRI and member of the libertarian think tank Indepdendence Institute, which contributes columns to the Denver Daily News. “I think they are desperate.”

The CCRI has submitted 128,744 signatures to get the amendment on the ballot, which surpasses the 76,000 valid signatures needed. The court has given no timeline for reviewing the validity of the signatures. 

Amendment 46

Amendment 46 seeks to prohibit “the state from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or natural origin” for any public job or public school. 

Opponents of the proposed amendment say the bill’s language is designed to trick people into thinking it supports equality, not ending affirmative action.

“He took popular language from the civil rights movement and uses it in a way that is the opposite of how it was intended,” said Hughes. “I think it is well worded to deceive the voters.”

Corry disagreed with Hughes’ assumption and said the proposed amendment is worded as transparent as possible.   

“We encourage the opposition to read the language because it’s very clear,” said Corry. 

Schools affected

Colorado public universities would be among the most heavily affected in the bill passes into law, according to Hughes. Schools like the University of Colorado-Boulder and Colorado State University, that tout diversity as being very important to their mission, use some affirmative action programs to enroll students.

Assuming that minorities and women need help to get into schools is racist, according to Corry, and said some studies have found that eliminating “state-sponsored discrimination” has actually increased the numbers of underrepresented minority groups. 

“It opens the door people who have been systematically excluded,” she said. “We need to stop dividing people.”

Deborah Mendez-Wilson, the director of communications for the University of Colorado, said the school had recently completed an assessment of what would happen if the amendment became law.

“It will affect the state universities in Colorado,” she said.

The assessment looked at some of the other states that had passed similar measures, including California and Michigan. Mendez-Wilson said the school completed the assessment so they could be prepared for whatever happens.

“Based on what we have seen, it has had an affect on efforts to maintain a diverse environment on campuses,” she said. “We will continue to seek as much diversity as we can within we are allowed to by law.”

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