The authorities are searching for two out-of-state residents accused of forging signatures to get an initiative on the 2024 general election ballot.

An April 16 indictment includes three felony charges and one misdemeanor against both Cherell Long of Nevada and Martin Arellano of Texas, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office announced Wednesday.

The initiative was for Amendment 80, an initiative that would have enshrined school choice for K-12 education in the Colorado Constitution.

Organizers were required to gather 124,238 signatures for the initiative to appear on the ballot. Over 190,000 signatures were submitted to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, which found 131,000 of the signatures appeared to be valid.

A post-review of the petitions by the Secretary of State’s Office found that several signatures didn’t match those in voter files, that some belonged to voters who were dead and that others belonged to voters no longer living in Colorado, according to a news release from the AG’s office.

An investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office determined that signatures collected by Long and Arellano included those from deceased and out-of-state voters, the release states.

“Petition circulators who submit fraudulent signatures to the state to put a candidate or initiative on the ballot must be held accountable for their unlawful conduct,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement. “We are committed to protecting our elections and safeguarding the process for petitioning onto the ballot.”

The AG’s office noted that the number of fraudulent signatures discovered wouldn’t have disqualified Amendment 80 from the ballot.

The amendment intended to give Colorado children in kindergarten through 12th grade the right to choose their preferred school, including neighborhood schools, charter schools, private schools, home schools and other open enrollment options.

Proponents of Amendment 80 believed that it would have protected school choice from attacks by those against alternatives to public education, while opponents argued that it could have led to taxpayer dollars going away from public schools and toward private school tuition.

The proposal needed at least 55% of the vote to become enshrined in the state Constitution, but it gained only 49.3% of votes.

Long and Arellano worked as paid petition circulators for Victor’s Canvassing in Colorado Springs, according to the AG’s office. The firm was one of three businesses hired by a campaign to circulate petitions to gather signatures.

Long and Arrellano are charged with one count each of attempt to influence a public servant, election forgery and forgery, all felonies, and a misdemeanor charge of perjury, the release states. The charges were filed in the Denver District Court and arrest warrants are active.

The Attorney General’s Office is asking that anyone with information about the defendants’ whereabouts to call local law enforcement.