Municipal (Non-Charter) Initiatives

Submit your request to the city clerk by providing the necessary information in the “Intent to Submit” form.

1. Proposed title of petition.
2. Committee of five members, who are all registered voters residing in the city limits of the City of Boulder.
3. Include the following information that will be made public: first and last name of the committee members and their residential address and a committee email address. Also include additional information that will not be public: phone numbers and email addresses for each member.
4. All Committee members must sign the form with their legal signature. Voter registration and signatures will be verified.
5. Petition language – This is what you will be proposing for a potential ballot measure.
6. Attach this form to an email and send to cityclerksoffice@bouldercolorado.gov

1. You will receive an email confirming receipt of your paperwork.
2. The city clerk will have ten days upon receipt to review and approve/deny the petition for circulation.

Petition is Approved

You may begin to circulate your paper petition for signatures and/or direct voters to endorse your electronic petition through the BDDO.

• Petitions must be submitted no later than Wednesday, May 27, 2026.
• *This section does not apply to electronic petition.
  To submit your petition, you must prepare an inventory (we will provide the form) of each petition packet by sequel number along with the number of signatures contained in the packet. The appointment will take approximately two hours and must be made in advance of May 27, 2026.

Petition is not Approved

You will receive comments from the city clerk with required or recommended changes.

• The city clerk will respond to the changes you submit within five days.
• Substantial changes made by the committee outside the required or recommended changes requested by the City Clerk may require the petition be re-submitted for comment.
• A petition circulated without the approval of the City Clerk may not be accepted for sufficiency verification.

Number of Signatures/Endorsements Required

3,418 valid signatures or endorsements.

The City Clerk will write the petition summary.

*This entire section does not apply to electronic petition.

Petition Packet Approved (see attached sample)

A sample of the final petition packet must be submitted to the city clerk for approval and all packets must be bound and uniform to this approved style. The following information must be contained on the first page of all packets:

1. Petition Title
2. WARNING
3. List of Committee Members (5)
4. Petition Summary (written by the City Clerk)
5. Petition Language (this can be several pages long and font size must be at least 8 points)
6. Petition Packet Number (all packets must be sequentially numbered prior to circulation).

Signature Pages of Petition Packet

• Must be lined and sequentially numbered and include space for the date, signature, first name, last name, and residential address.
• Voters may change their mind and cross out their name at the time they are signing the petition.
• Committee members and circulators should not cross out any names on the petition because they believe the name will not be counted. This is a determination that the City Clerk’s Office will make.

Circulator Affidavit – Must be at least 18 years old

This is the last page of all paper-style initiative petitions and only the attached form is approved for use.

The only people who may sign a City of Boulder petition are:

• At least 18 years of age by election day (November 3, 2026)
• Must be a registered voter according to the laws of the State of Colorado
• Must reside within the city limits of the City of Boulder
• May not sign or endorse more than once
• May not sign for anyone other than themselves
• May assist another signer or endorsers but must provide name
• Must have read or had read to them the proposed initiative and understand its meaning.

Information must be legible. If the City Clerk’s Office cannot determine the name or address of the signer or if information is incomplete or incorrect then the signature will not be counted toward the required number of signatures needed for certification to council.

*This entire section does not apply to electronic petition.

Every petition packet must have the circulator affidavit page notarized.

• All information must be accurate and complete.
• Circulators may not assist voters in signing the petition. This is an area where incorrect or incomplete information will require that the entire packet be excluded from the count and is a frequent problem for most every committee to have several packets excluded.

Some of the more frequent issues include:

• Circulator Affidavit is not notarized.
• The date the circulator signs does not agree with the date the notary signs.
• The circulator’s address is not listed.
• The notary does not apply their notary seal and it does not include their notary ID number and date that their commission expires.
• Required information left blank.

• Only petitions with at least the minimum number of required signatures will be accepted for review for sufficiency.
• If a committee chooses to use both paper and electronic petition styles, both methods of gathering signatures will be calculated to determine sufficiency.

*This section does not apply to electronic petition.

The committee prepares for this submission by:

1. Making an appointment with the City Clerk’s Office. This appointment will be for two hours and you must make it prior to May 27.
2. Electronically submit the inventory of the petition packets in sequential order and listing the number of signatures contained in each packet.

The City Clerk has fifteen calendar days to review the petition packet.

• If the petition is found to be sufficient (has at least the minimum required number of eligible signatures/endorsements), the city clerk will issue a letter of sufficiency.
• If the petition is found to be insufficient (has less than the minimum required number of eligible signatures/endorsements), the city clerk will issue a letter of insufficiency.
• This will allow the committee, within ten calendar days, to amend the petition by circulating additional petition packets to add new signatures.

The city clerk will have fifteen calendar days (but no later than 120 days prior to the election) to review the amended petition packets and determine if the petition is now sufficient.

If the petition is sufficient, the city clerk will issue a letter of sufficiency.

If the petition is still not sufficient, the city clerk will issue a letter of insufficiency and there will be no further amendment allowed.