A “personhood” amendment granting rights to a fertilized egg will not appear on the November 2012 Colorado ballot because it failed to gather enough valid signatures. The Colorado Secretary of State announced that the initiative fell short of the 86,105 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot by 3,859 valid signatures, according to local KDVR. Earlier this month, the Colorado Personhood Coalition submitted 112,121 signatures to the secretary of state for verification.
Personhood USA is not backing down and planning to appeal the Secretary of State’s decision. Kelly Mason, a spokesperson for Personhood USA, told the Huffington Post ‘Whole petitions were discarded because of small details, like a notary error…Once those things are counted, we’ll have more than enough.’ The Colorado Personhood Coalition has thirty days to file an appeal and has already found legal representation.
This is the first time Colorado Personhood has failed to get enough valid signatures. The amendment appeared on the Colorado ballot first in 2008 and again in 2010. Both times Colorado voters have defeated the amendment by substantial margins.
A personhood amendment was defeated in 2011 by a wide margin in Mississippi.
Media Resources: Huffington Post 8/29/12; KDVR 8/29/12; Personhood USA 8/29/12; Feminist Newswire 8/7/12, Feminist Newswire 11/3/10; Feminist Newswire 7/11/2008
