Coloradans receiving their 2024 ballots may notice that the names of some congressional candidates have a disclaimer below them that others do not.
For instance, beneath the name of Frank Atwood, an Approval Voting Party candidate running to represent the 4th Congressional District, is a notice that he has signed a declaration to limit his service to no more than three terms should he be elected. James Wiley, a Libertarian candidate running in the 3rd Congressional District, has the same notice below his name. Ditto for Unity Party candidate Critter Milton on the ballot in the 1st Congressional District.
The disclaimer has nothing to do with the fact that all three are third-party candidates. Rather, it’s there because they each signed an unenforceable declaration approved by Colorado voters nearly two decades ago.
In 1998, Colorado voters narrowly approved Amendment 18, a change to the state constitution that allows congressional candidates to sign a pledge declaring that they will serve no more than three terms in the U.S. House or two terms in the U.S. Senate.
There are no term limits for members of Congress, meaning they can serve as many terms as they’d like. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that congressional term limits can only be imposed through a change to the U.S. Constitution, prohibiting states from trying to make their own rules.
Amendment 18 passed by less than a percentage point. While the pledge is totally unenforceable, a candidate running for a fourth term in the U.S. House or third term in the U.S. Senate, is unable, under rules issued by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, to sign the pledge and have the disclaimer appear under their name.
There are a total of six congressional candidates running in Colorado this year who have signed the pledge. Four are members of the Approval Voting Party.
No major-party candidate running for Congress this year in Colorado signed the pledge.
Since 2004, about 30 congressional candidates have run in Colorado after signing the pledge, some of them multiple times. Milton, for instance, is on his second congressional bid, while Atwood is running for a third time. However, no candidate since 2004 who has run after signing the pledge has won.
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