Overview

Colorado voters adopted Amendment 18 (1998), establishing a candidate declaration system concerning congressional term limits.

The amendment allowed candidates for Congress to declare whether they supported a constitutional amendment establishing congressional term limits. The measure authorized the publication of these declarations in voter information materials.

The amendment formed part of the ballot-instruction phase of congressional term-limits reform that followed U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (1995).

Measure Identification

• Measure name: Amendment 18

• Year: 1998

• Adoption method: Citizen initiative constitutional amendment

• Election date: November 3, 1998

• Result: Approved

Ballot Language

Amendment 18 created a voluntary declaration system concerning congressional term limits.

Candidates for Congress could declare whether they supported a constitutional amendment establishing term limits of:

• three terms for Members of the House of Representatives

• two terms for Members of the Senate

The declarations could be published in voter information materials.

Institutional Architecture

Voter Instruction Mechanism

Amendment 18 communicated voter support for a constitutional amendment establishing congressional term limits and created a mechanism allowing candidates to declare whether they supported such an amendment.

Ballot Information Architecture

The initiative authorized the publication of candidate declarations regarding congressional term limits in voter information materials associated with elections.

Candidate Declaration / Pledge Mechanism

Candidates could voluntarily declare whether they supported a constitutional amendment establishing congressional term limits.

These declarations were intended to inform voters regarding candidate positions on the proposed amendment.

Election Administration

Implementation

Following adoption of Amendment 18, election officials were authorized to include candidate declarations regarding congressional term limits in voter information materials.

Litigation History

Measures using ballot informational statements or declarations concerning congressional candidates were later affected by the Supreme Court’s decision in Cook v. Gralike (2001), which addressed ballot labels favoring or disfavoring candidates based on policy positions.

Relationship to Cook v. Gralike (2001)

The Supreme Court’s decision in Cook v. Gralike addressed ballot labels attached to congressional candidates based on policy positions.

Because Colorado’s Amendment 18 involved the publication of candidate declarations regarding term limits in voter information materials rather than ballot labels attached to candidate names, the measure differed structurally from the ballot-label systems addressed in Cook.

Institutional Design Observations

Colorado’s Amendment 18 represents a variation of the ballot-information architecture used in the Ballot Instruction Phase.

Rather than attaching statements directly to candidate names on the ballot, the measure used candidate declarations published in voter information materials.

Sources

• Colorado Secretary of State — Amendment 18 (1998) ballot materials and election records
  https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/

• Colorado Secretary of State — 1998 General Election Results
  https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Results/Abstract1998.html

• Ballotpedia — Colorado Amendment 18 (1998) Congressional Term Limits Declarations
  https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_Amendment_18,_Congressional_Term_Limits_Declarations_(1998)