Four Republicans are on the ballot for governor with the announcement Wednesday that former Congressman Bob Beau- prez barely collected enough signatures to add his name.
In order to petition onto the ballot, Beauprez’s campaign had to collect 1,500 signatures from registered Republicans in each of the state’s seven congressional districts. He almost fell short in the Denver-based 1st Congressional District, collecting only 1,524 signatures.
Despite the close call, Beauprez joins the ballot and pulled off what many said was impossible when he got into the race March 3: collecting enough valid signatures by the March 31 deadline.
“Coloradans Want Bob Beauprez!” read the headline on his news release.
“I am humbled by the continued loyalty and outpouring of support from the thousands of Coloradans who encouraged me to become their next governor,” Beauprez said.
Beauprez spent almost $270,000 for his signatures, campaign manager Dustin Olson said.
Also on the GOP ballot for governor are former Congressman Tom Tancredo, Secretary of State Scott Gessler and former Sen. Mike Kopp.
The winner of the June 24 primary will take on Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who is seeking a second term.
Beauprez, whose entry marks his second attempt to become governor, lost in 2006 to Democrat Bill Ritter. Also, in 2010, Tancredo, running as a third-party candidate, lost to Hickenlooper.
Gessler and Kopp went through the Republican state assembly Saturday to get on the ballot. Kopp received 33.6 percent of the delegate vote to Gessler’s 33.1 percent — a difference of 18 votes. Three other candidates who failed to reach the 30 percent threshold are out of the race.
Tancredo also petitioned onto the ballot, submitting 16,634 signatures. Of that 13,158, or 70 percent, were deemed valid. Beauprez submitted 23,000 signatures. Of that, 53 percent, or 12,209, were deemed valid.
Andrew Cole, spokesman for the secretary of state, said the problem with Beauprez’s effort can be traced to his circulators, the people who were paid to collect the signatures.
He said he doesn’t know how many signatures were rejected because the voter also signed Tancredo’s petition. Voters can only sign one candidate’s petition per race, and because Tancredo turned his signatures in first, he got credit for duplicates.
Tancredo said he and his supporters spent hours checking signatures with the state election database, which is why they did so well.
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or twitter.com/lynn_bartels
