26
¶44 The current version of section 1-1-113 establishes (with exceptions not
relevant here) “the exclusive method for the adjudication of controversies arising
from a breach or neglect of duty or other wrongful act that occurs prior to the day
of an election.” § 1-1-113(4) (emphasis added). It provides:
When any controversy arises between any official charged with any
duty or function under this code and any candidate, or any officers or
representatives of a political party, or any persons who have made
nominations or when any eligible elector files a verified petition in a
district court of competent jurisdiction alleging that a person charged
with a duty under this code has committed or is about to commit a breach
or neglect of duty or other wrongful act, after notice to the official which
includes an opportunity to be heard, upon a finding of good cause,
the district court shall issue an order requiring substantial compliance
with the provisions of this code. The order shall require the person
charged to forthwith perform the duty or to desist from the wrongful act
primary election legislation (not then applicable to presidential elections)
authorizing district courts to accept verified petitions alleging, among other
things, “that the name of any person has been or is about to be wrongfully placed
upon” primary ballots and to order the Secretary (among other election officials)
to correct such errors. Ch. 4, § 25, 1910 Colo. Sess. Laws. 15, 33. The 1910 law also
gave this court the power to review the district court’s decision. Id. at 34; see also
People v. Republican State Cent. Comm., 226 P. 656, 657 (Colo. 1924) (confirming that
if a proper entity “has violated a duty with which it is charged under the act, the
court has power to direct it to correct the wrong”).
In 1963, the General Assembly repealed and reenacted Colorado’s Election
Code. See generally Ch. 118, 1963 Colo. Sess. Laws 360. The 1963 code allowed for
“any elector” to show “by verified petition . . . that any neglect of duty or wrongful
act by any person charged with a duty under this act has occurred or is about to
occur,” mirroring the language in today’s section 1-1-113. Ch. 118, § 203, 1963
Colo. Sess. Laws at 457. The legislature’s next reenactment of the code in 1992
codified this procedure at section 1-1-113. Ch. 118, sec. 1, § 1-1-113, 1992 Colo.
Sess. Laws 624, 635.