Petitions, Campaigns, & Electioneering

The public sidewalks outside the Estes Valley Library are traditional public forums, not under control of the Library, where individuals are free to conduct any lawful activity.   The Library building and grounds, including the outside entry, are limited public forums where individuals are not entitled to conduct the same scope of activities that they may do on the public sidewalks, and are subject to the restrictions of this Policy.

Persons circulating petitions for signatures or providing information may stand outside the Library building, so long as they do not block entrances or exits, damage Library property, or interfere with or harass patrons seeking to use the Library.

Except as set out in the following paragraph pertaining to election information, distribution of leaflets or other written material, requests for signatures on petitions, and stopping people to give information in any other form is not permitted inside the Library.

Official and nonpartisan election information, such as the Colorado State Voters’ Pamphlets and the League of Women Voters Guide, will be distributed at the Library. The Library accepts political information on issues and candidates of interest to the citizens of the Estes Valley during election season and will make this material available to Library patrons in designated locations as space allows. Areas designated for political information are at the discretion of the Library Director based on available space. The Library takes no responsibility for acquiring or replacing materials, or for presenting a complete representation of issues and candidate literature. 

The Library is adjacent to the Estes Park Town Hall, which is one of the customary locations of polling for the Estes Valley. State electioneering laws, set out in Section 1-13-714, Colorado Revised Statutes, provide that no person shall do any electioneering on the day of any election within any polling place or in any public street or room in any public manner within 100 feet of any building in which a polling place is located. 

Electioneering includes campaigning for or against any candidate who is on the ballot or any issue or question that is on the ballot.  On the day of any election, the Library will remove campaign materials.

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Please refer to the Free Speech Policy set for more information.

Petitions policy was originally addressed in the Petitions and Solicitations Policy approved in March 2010.

The Estes Valley Library Petition, Campaign & Electioneering Policy was adopted and approved by the Estes Valley Library District Board of Trustees on July 22, 2013, revised on September 19, 2016, reviewed on October 21, 2019 and revised on September 18, 2023.

Lynn Lawson, President                Anne Dewey, Secretary