Effort to recall Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has failed to collect necessary signatures by deadline

An effort to recall Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) launched by critics who say he overstepped his authority in his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has failed to collect the necessary signatures.

According to The Denver Post, the effort fell short on Friday of obtaining the 631,266 signatures required for the state to begin moving forward with a recall election. It is the second unsuccessful attempt to recall the governor since he was sworn in in January 2019. 

Those behind the effort have said they intend to request an extension, with one of the backers, Lori Cutunilli, reportedly blaming the governor’s coronavirus restrictions for the effort’s failure to obtain the needed signatures by the Friday deadline.

“After much consideration an extension for time to collect signatures has been requested due to Polis’ unconstitutional Covid Restrictions limiting citizen’s ability to gather to sign petitions,” Cutunilli reportedly wrote in a Facebook post.

It’s unclear how many signatures the group collected. Cutunilli also didn’t disclose the number in her post, the newspaper noted.

According to the Post, campaign organizers will have to ask a court for an extension.

The news comes as the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says the state has been seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

“About 1 in 110 Coloradans are currently contagious with the virus,” the department said in a message on Twitter over the weekend while urging residents to practice social distancing and wear masks. 

As of Sunday, more than 160,450 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Colorado in addition to more than 2,550 deaths, a New York Times database shows.