The measure, Initiative 82, would have preserved affirmative action programs that are threatened by Amendment 46, which has been cleared for the ballot. The disqualified initiative fell about 8,000 signatures short of the number required.
If approved, Amendment 46 will ban affirmative action in public employment, public education and public contracting. Melissa Hart, who spearheaded the Initiative 82 drive and is a law professor at the University of Colorado, told the Rocky Mountain News that “It’s frustrating because our opposition tied us up in litigation and used every tactic they could to hamper the process…[but] it won’t stop us from working as hard as we can to convince voters that Colorado needs to reject (an)…intentionally confusing initiative,” Amendment 46.
