Recall effort against Jared Polis falls short

DENVER (AP) — A long shot effort to ask Colorado voters to recall Gov. Jared Polis in his first year of office has failed.

Recall backers announced Friday at the state Capitol that they had collected more than 300,000 signatures to force a special election, about half the number that they needed.

Dismiss Polis organizers only had two months to collect signatures.

In a statement, Polis said he was grateful the “sideshow” was over. He said he hoped recall efforts against other lawmakers would also fail, saying they shouldn’t be used for “partisan gamesmanship.”

The Colorado Sun reports that the recall campaign won’t turn in its petitions to the Secretary of State’s Office. That will allow anyone who signed them to still be eligible to sign a future recall petition against Polis.