The Colorado secretary of state’s office said Tuesday the proposed anti-abortion “personhood” amendment will not be on the 2012 ballot — no matter the outcome of proponents’ planned legal action to prove they collected enough voter signatures.
The ballot certification deadline was Monday. Even if a judge rules personhood sponsors’ petition was sufficient, the measure would have to wait for the 2014 general election, secretary of state spokesman Andrew Cole told The Post Tuesday.
Personhood USA founder Keith Mason said Tuesday supporters have a 30-day window to take legal action challenging Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s Aug. 29 determination that the Personhood Amendment failed to make the ballot — falling short by 3,859 signatures.
Petitioners collected 82,246 valid signatures of the 86,105 required, according to state officials.
“We have until Sept. 28 to file our lawsuit. And the more we look, line by line, the more confident we are we have enough signatures,” Mason said. “We have recovered thousands of signatures.”
Proponents do have a 30-day period to challenge the count, Cole said, but its outcome will come too late for this election cycle.
The Personhood Amendment, Initiative 46, would amend the state Constitution to extend protection of life to “all human beings at any stage of development.”
Similar measures failed at Colorado polls in 2008 and 2010.
Mason said Personhood Amendment supporters will not give up.
“Hopefully, this proves our tenacity,” he said.
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains chief executive Vicki Cowart said it’s now official that personhood didn’t make the 2012 ballot, and it’s clear support for the measure is waning locally and nationally.
“Fewer signatures were collected in Colorado this year than in past years,” Cowart said in a statement. “Even national support is wavering, as we have seen personhood efforts in Ohio, Florida, Nevada, California, Montana and Oregon fail in 2012. This means no state in the nation will be asked to vote on personhood this fall.”
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276, edraper@denverpost.com or twitter.com/electadraper
