Colorado residents next year will decide whether to allocate the state's electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote in future presidential elections.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s (D) office said Thursday that opponents of the national popular vote had submitted a sufficient number of signatures to qualify a ballot measure that will appear on the 2020 ballot. Those opponents collected nearly 229,000 signatures to force the measure onto the 2020 ballot, far more than the 124,000 necessary.

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If passed, the referendum would reverse a law approved this year by Colorado’s Democratic-controlled state legislature to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

The compact is made up of a group of states that hope to award their electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote.

It does not take effect until states that represent at least 270 electoral votes — enough to carry the White House — join in. To date, 15 states and the District of Columbia have passed popular vote plans, accounting for 196 electoral votes.

Opponents of the national compact say it would take power away from smaller, rural states in favor of larger and more urban areas. So far, only Democratic-led states have approved the compact, though states that have joined include smaller states like Hawaii, Vermont, Rhode Island and Delaware.

But some Republican-led legislatures have begun hearing arguments over bills to join the compact. Bills have passed in Republican-led chambers in Oklahoma and Arizona and have advanced through committees in Georgia and Missouri.