If you are an unaffiliated candidate running for state office (US Senate, US House, Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Attorney General, State Board of Education, CU Regent, State Senate, State House) or an RTD candidate and attempting to access the general election ballot by petition, please e-mail the following information to petitions@coloradosos.gov:

• Candidate’s name as it appears in their voter registration
• Candidate’s name as it will appear on ballot
• Office running for and district (if applicable)
• Home address of candidate - The home address of the candidate will be printed on the petition. We will not print the home address of the candidate if their voter registration record is confidential, however, this information is required for petition generation.
• If running for Governor, please provide the voter registration name, on-ballot name, and address of the Lt. Governor running mate
• Name and address of individual/group you want petitions to be returned to (this goes on the front of the petitions)
• The names and addresses of up to 3 unaffiliated registered voters who will serve as a vacancy committee in the event the candidate doesn’t accept the petition nomination because they declined, died, were disqualified, or withdrew
  
  • Unaffiliated candidates for state house or state senate are required to
    name 3 unaffiliated registered voters to their committee
  • All other unaffiliated candidates and RTD candidates may name up to 3
    unaffiliated registered voters but are not required to

Once we receive your information, we will generate a petition format for you and send it to you for review. You must then submit a scan or high-quality photos of a hard copy printed proof of the petition format to us before we approve the format for circulation (we will provide more instructions on this when we email you with the PDF of the petition).

The first day approved petitions may be circulated is Thursday, May 14, 2026. You may not begin circulating your petition until this date,  and you receive an official format approval letter from us.

If you are a candidate running for county office (County Commissioner, Clerk & Recorder, County Treasurer, Assessor, Coroner, Sheriff), please contact your county clerk & recorder’s elections office for a petition template and petition format approval.