BREAKING: Colorado Supreme Court advises that recall mechanism is unconstitutional

I blogged last week about Colorado's recall mechanism (which it turns out was first addressed at the Recall Elections Blog). It requires a yes or no vote on whether to recall the candidate before any vote for the successor will be counted. I noted that it presented questions very similar to the California statute in the 2003 gubernatorial recall election, a statute that a federal district court found unconstitutional.

Subsequently, a question was filed before the Colorado Supreme Court to address this issue. Today, the Colorado Supreme Court has answered it. By a 5-2 vote, the court found that the provision violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. I've uploaded the order here (PDF), and I'll have more if additional documents become available.