Petition Entity Licensing FAQs

Contents:

Circulators
Designated agents
Entity licensing requirements
Petition registrations

Entity licensing requirements

Q. What is a petition entity?

A. "Petition entity" means any person or committee that directly or indirectly provides payment to a circulator to collect signatures for a petition to nominate a candidate, to recall an elected officer, to create a minor party, or to place a question on the ballot.

1-4-905.5(1)(c), 1-40-135(1), C.R.S., and Rule 15.2, 8 CCR 1505-1

Q. Do I need to be licensed?

A. If you, your committee, or organization plans to hire circulators to collect signatures for any statewide initiative or referendum petition, statewide or county candidate petition, statewide or county recall petition, or minor political party qualification petition in the state of Colorado you must become licensed as a petition entity.

1-4-905.5(1)(c), 1-40-135(1), C.R.S., and Rule 15, 8 CCR 1505-1

Q. How do I get a petition entity license?

A. To get a license, a petition entity agent must:

Complete the required petition circulator training and exam on our eLearning portal - create an account to get started.
Create a petition entity account
Log in to file a petition entity license application and pay the filing fee. The filing fee is non-refundable.
Wait for approval - We'll review and process your license application within 10 business days and send you an email to let you know if we need more information or if your license is approved.

Petition entities are prohibited from hiring circulators until their petition entity application has been approved by our office per Rule 15.2.2, 8 CCR 1505-1.

Q: How long is a petition entity license valid?

A: The license expires after two (2) years. Renewals can be filed 60 days before the entity expires to avoid a lapse in their registration.

Q: How do I change petition entity information?

A: An amendment can be filed to update the petition entity's contact information and principals.

Q. Any additional filing requirements?

A. Yes. A licensed petition entity must log in to register petitions before compensating circulators for circulating any statewide initiative or referendum petition, statewide or county candidate petition, statewide or county recall petition, or minor party qualification petition.

Q: Can an entity resign or withdraw?

A: No. The entity will expire two (2) years after becoming licensed, if not renewed.

Designated agents

Effective February 14, 2026 - Annual circulator training required

Q: What is a designated agent?

A: A designated agent is a representative for the petition entity that is responsible for things like;

Maintaining the entity's license
Registering petitions that the entity intends to circulate
Registering circulators and reporting which petitions they will collect signatures for

Q: Do I need training to be a designated agent?

A: Yes. Designated agents must complete the circulator training provided by our office on our eLearning portal. Training is required annually. It takes approximately 30-45 minutes. Save your certification of completion at the end!

After, you'll need to update your training date in your petition entity account - tell us that you took the training.

Log in to our petition entity system.
Select Renew training near the upper-right corner, in the designated agent section.
Type in your training completion date.
Upload your training certificate.

Attachments must be PDF, JPG, GIF, PNG, and TIF files only.
Combined size of all files must be 10 MB or less.
Do not use special characters or punctuation in file names.
Submit.
Hold tight! Our office will review the filing. This could take up to 10 business days.

Q: Why am I not able to do anything on my dashboard?

A: Your training has likely expired. Visit our eLearning platform to take your required annual training. Save your certification of completion at the end! Then, come back to your dashboard and select the link to Renew training near the upper-right corner.

Petition registrations

Effective December 1, 2025 - Changes to petition and circulator registrations

Q: How do I register petitions to circulate?

A: The designated agent for the entity needs to log in and complete the petition registration process.

Q: Why am I still seeing a petition listed in my dashboard that has already been turned in?

A: Some petitions end up being submitted prior to their official circulation deadline date. Once the official circulation deadline has passed the petition will fall off your list.

Q: Why don’t I see the petition I need to register available in the list.

A: Email us at petitions@coloradosos.gov with the name of the petition you need to register and we will add it to the list. This may be needed for county petitions, but will not be needed for municipal, school board, or special district.

Q: Can I remove a registered petition that I'm no longer circulating?

A: No.

Circulators

Effective December 1, 2025 - Changes to petition and circulator registrations

Q: Do circulators need to be registered?

A: Yes. Election Rule 15.2 states that entering into an agreement with a circulator to provide them with compensation for collecting petition signatures in Colorado requires registration with our office. It is also required to identify which petitions each circulator will be collecting signatures for. Petition entities must be both licensed, and registered to circulate a petition, before hiring circulators.

Any person hired to circulate a petition on behalf of a petition entity must be registered and approved by our office before collecting signatures. Circulators are not permitted to collect signatures until approved.

Q: How do I register a circulator?

A: To register a circulator the designated agent of the entity needs to log in and complete the circulator registration process for each circulator.

Information needed for each registration includes:

Circulator's name
Circulator's permanent physical address (this may be outside Colorado)
Date circulator training was completed
Upload circulator's training certificate
Upload image of circulator's signature

Attachments must be PDF, JPG, GIF, PNG, and TIF files only. Combined size of all files must be 10MB or less.

You're not done! Report each petition the circulator will collect signatures for in Colorado

Log in to the petition entity system
Select "Circulators"
Select the name of the circulator
Select "Add a petition" to report petitions
Save your changes and the circulator's list of petitions will be updated

Q: Do circulator registrations expire?

A: Yes. Circulator registrations expire one year after their circulator training date. Designated agents will need to re-register circulators after they have completed their training and upload their new training certificate.

Q: How often do circulators need to update their training?

A: Annually. Training can be completed on our eLearning portal. Circulators should save a copy of their training certificate upon completion.

Q: Can a petition entity train their circulators in-house?

A: No, effective December 1, 2025 Election Rule 15.2 states circulator training must be completed on our eLearning portal. Circulators need to save a copy of their training certificate to provide to the petition entity for registration.

Q: How do I report which petitions a circulator is going to circulate?

A: After the circulator registration has been approved by our office, log in and select “Circulators.” From there you can select the circulator’s name to view and add petitions they are circulating.

Q: Why am I seeing the same person listed twice in the circulator list of my dashboard?

A: The circulator may be listed twice if you have added them again to update their information, such as address or training date. Once their training date in the earlier record passes, that circulator will fall off your list and only the newer entry will be displayed.

Q: I need to edit the information for a circulator. How do I do that?

A: You will need to add the circulator again as there is no edit function available to make changes. This will need to be done to change their name, contact information, signature, or training date.