On Friday, GOP Secretary of State Wayne Williams announced that, while former state Rep. Victor Mitchell had collected enough valid signatures to make the June GOP primary ballot for governor of Colorado, investment banker Doug Robinson had fallen short. Robinson, a nephew of Mitt Romney, immediately announced that he would challenge the decision in court.
As we've written before, signature gathering is a very expensive and cutthroat process in Colorado. Candidates need 1,500 valid signatures from each of Colorado's seven congressional districts, a time-consuming effort that can cost an estimated $250,000. To make things even more complicated, a voter can only sign one petition for each race: if a voter signs petitions for multiple contenders, it only counts in favor of the first candidate to turn in their signatures. That means that Republican candidates are often fighting for the very small poll of GOP voters in the very blue 1st District and 2nd Districts, and Williams said that it was in the Boulder-based 2nd where Robinson had fallen 22 signatures short of what he needed.
If Robinson can't convince the courts that he had enough valid petitions, he's out of luck. Colorado does allow candidates to also make the ballot by getting enough support at the state party convention, but Robinson chose not to compete there earlier this month. However, he may have reason to be optimistic that he'll prevail in court. Back in 2016, Williams initially said that three of the four candidates who had turned in petitions couldn't make it onto the ballot, but judges gradually ruled that they each had enough valid signatures.
For now at least, there will be three Republicans on the primary ballot. State Treasurer Walker Stapleton also had his own problems with his petitions, but he made the ballot after he won the state party convention. Former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez also took enough support at the convention to make it to the ballot, though he has very little money or name recognition. There's also Mitchell, a former state representative who is self-funding his bid. Stapleton begins the race as the GOP frontrunner no matter what happens to Robinson.