Amendment 85: Plain Language Ballot Questions
Source: results.enr.clarityelections.com
What does this measure do?
All state and local ballot questions would have to be written in plain language at no more than an 8th-grade reading level. State laws could no longer force extra wording into citizen-initiated ballot titles, and your taxes do not change.
Proposed by: Citizen initiative by Advance Colorado (Initiative 234; Suzanne Taheri and Michael Fields)
Advance Colorado is a conservative group led by Michael Fields; Taheri is a former deputy secretary of state. They want ballot questions written at an 8th-grade reading level.
Source: coloradopolitics.com
A YES vote means
Ballot questions must be written in plain language at an 8th-grade level or lower, and required legal wording could not be added to citizen initiative titles.
A NO vote means
Ballot questions keep their current wording rules, including state-required language in some titles.
Campaign Finance Information
Campaign Finance Information
Largest donors supporting
- Common Sense America · VANational nonprofit; donors not public$250,000
- Advance ColoradoColorado conservative advocacy nonprofit$20,000
- Richard McCormickDenver retiree$5,000
Some of this money went to groups that also work on other measures.
Largest donors opposing
- Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition Action FundImmigrant rights advocacy group$50,000
- Coloradans for Real Safety SolutionsColorado issue committee against Proposition 132Its top donors: Lynn Schusterman (Tulsa philanthropist); ACLU of Colorado; Signal Behavioral Health Network$50,000
- Cobalt FoundationAbortion rights advocacy group$35,000
- AFSCME · DCPublic employees union$25,000
- Colorado Fund for Children & Public EducationColorado teachers union political fund$15,000
Some of this money went to groups that also work on other measures.
Filings as of September 17, 2026 · Sources: tracer.sos.colorado.gov2
Sources: coloradosos.gov · sos.state.co.us