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Amendment 46, also known as the "Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, was a proposed initiative on the Colorado ballot for 2008. If ratified, Article II of the Colorado Constitution would have stated:
The State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.
The proposed initiative was sponsored by Californian Ward Connerly. In April, 2008, a Colorado group sued, claiming that over 69,000 signatures on the ballot petition were invalid. [1] Some citizens also claimed that they signed the petition through voter fraud. [2]
Governor Bill Ritter opposed the amendment, [3] along with the Colorado Council of Churches. [4]
National Ballot Access was hired to manage this petition drive. [5] [6]
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
 | 1,138,087 | 50.80 |
| Yes | 1,102,098 | 49.20 |
| Total votes | 2,240,185 | 100.00 |
Initiatives with the same language have been introduced and approved in five other states, including California (1996), Washington (1998), Michigan (2006), Nebraska (2008), and Arizona (2010); Colorado was the first state where it was defeated. On December 17, 2010 the University of Colorado at Boulder released a report [8] analyzing the factors that led to the defeat of Amendment 46. According to the study, "...Coloradans overwhelmingly intended to support affirmative action on Election Day; arguably, were Amendment 46 a clearly worded referendum on attitudes toward affirmative action, it would have failed by a much wider margin: 66 to 34 percent." The report also found that (a) many voters were confused by the initiative, (b) voters who followed the measure in the media were more likely to oppose it, and (c) proposed alternative initiatives in support of equal opportunity contributed to the measure's defeat. [9]
Kendrick Brett Meek is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for Florida's 17th congressional district from 2003 to 2011. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2010 Senate election for the seat of Mel Martinez, but he and independent candidate Charlie Crist lost in a three-way race to Republican Marco Rubio.
Wardell Anthony "Ward" Connerly is an American political activist, businessman, and former University of California Regent (1993–2005). He is also the founder and the chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, a national non-profit organization in opposition to racial and gender preferences. He is considered to be the man behind California's Proposition 209 prohibiting race- and gender-based preferences in state hiring, contracting and state university admissions, a program known as affirmative action.
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Amendment 47 was a proposed initiative on the Colorado ballot for 2008. It was defeated.
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