Colorado's Amendment 85 requiring plain language ballots fails to gain enough support

Amendment 85, which would have required ballot questions to be written in plain language, failed to gain the level of support among Colorado voters needed for it to pass.

The amendment would have required all state and local ballot questions in the state to be written at no higher than an eighth-grade reading level.  It would have applied to citizen initiatives, measures referred by the state legislature, and ballot questions in schools and municipalities.

Amendment 85 "prohibits laws that require specific language, if the laws interfere with the plain language in the ballot title."

Opponents say that provision would have prevented laws that add critical information or help voters better understand the effects of a measure.

They also say Amendment 85 is unnecessary, pointing out that state law already requires ballot questions to be written in "plain language that is understood by the widest possible audience."

Proponents of Amendment 85 — including conservatives and liberals — say tax impacts and other necessary information can still appear in ballot measures. They just have to be written in a way voters can understand.

The right to vote, they say, includes the right to understand what you're voting on.

Although more voters approved the amendment than rejected it, it did not meet the 55% margin required to add an amendment to the state constitution. Ultimately, only 51.1% of Colorado voters chose to support the amendment.