The Colorado Off-Year Election Ballot

Colorado elections will be held on November 6. Most of the state will be conducting an all-mail ballot election. You can check on-line if you're registered to vote in Colorado. You can also find your voting places.

Concerning the Colorado ballot measures this election period, these are primarily taxes, taxes, taxes, and bonds, bonds, and more bonds. There doesn't seem to be any real polarizing issues this year for voters, such as should gays be allowed to marry or adopt children or any anti-abortion measures on the ballots.. If these two topics appear on the ballot again, and they most certainly will, it will be during a peak year when the country votes again for the President of the United States. The reason these issues aren't on the ballot is because very few people vote during the non-presidential voting years. This is why the "off years" are called the sneaky years. Tax increases and bond issues sneak through like wet slippery slides.

So far in Colorado, there are thirteen cities and towns asking for millions in bond issues. Denver, of course, is in first place. There are also tax increases, city council races and spending limits.

In Denver, Colorado, the voters are being asked to approve a half-billion-dollar tax increase, a $2.5 million levy and $550 million in bond projects. They are also being asked to improve Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver Botanic Gardens, and the Museum of Nature and Science.

The City of Las Animas has no races, so there will be no voting for anything at all this year.

The City of Commerce City, Colorado will be asked to increase taxes by an estimated $68,000.00 for the first full fiscal year (2008) and by such amounts as may be generated annually thereafter which shall be collected only from a hotel and motel accommodation tax commencing January 1, 2008.

The voters shall also be asked for taxes to be increased by an estimated $650,000.00 for the first full fiscal year (2008) and by such amounts as may be generated annually collected by an admissions tax commencing January 1, 2008. The proceeds of which admission tax together with investment earnings thereon shall be used solely for public safety purposes and for the construction and maintenance of facilities used for transportation and drainage.

In Aspen, Colorado, voters are being asked to approve or deny referendum (2E) that would allow them to vote less often. With Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), voters rank candidates in order of preference, i.e. 1 for your first choice, 2 for your second choice, and so on. If a candidate receives a majority of the vote, he or she is elected. If not, an "instant runoff" is held. The last place candidate is eliminated, and the voter's vote is counted for their next choice (just like in a traditional runoff, where if your top choice didn't make it, you would vote for your next favorite candidate). This continues until a candidate has a majority of the vote. The result is majority rule, like with a traditional runoff election, but in a single election.. The Aspen Times has endorsed this one.

The Latino Voter List has been cut in half by an inactive voter policy according to a press release. Voters in heavily Latino districts have relatively higher rates of participation in elections that are conducted entirely by mail, but only if election officials actually mail them a ballot, according to an analysis released today by Colorado Common Cause.

The study found that in May 2007, voter turnout in Denver's heavily Latino precincts was only 3 percent lower than for the city as a whole. The analysis also found that Colorado's policy of declaring voters "inactive" if they fail to vote in a general election resulted in a 50 percent decline of active registered voters in Denver's 48 heavily Latino districts. Denver as a whole saw a 38 percent drop in its number of active voters.

"It is encouraging to see that voting by mail is working well for Latino voters in the elections," said Jenny Flanagan, executive director of Colorado Common Cause. "Unfortunately, Colorado's policy of branding properly registered voters as "inactive" after they miss a single election means that tens of thousands of voters are being excluded from the process. We should be encouraging voters to participate, not making it more difficult."

One of the issues in Northglenn, Colorado is whether to build a new fifty-five million dollar senior center. Ballots for the November election have been mailed to all active registered voters in Northglenn, Colorado and there are signs in many neighborhood yards stating that "Fifty Million Dollars is too much money for the Senior Center".

In Summit County, Colorado, there are ballots for school bonds and for additional transportation funding for the school district. Question 3A asks for $360,000 annually in transportation costs for the school district. It also asks for free full-day kindergarten, although there is a dispute about this because full-day kindergarten is already offered in all six of the district's elementary schools. 3A also asks for more than $5.5 million to be dedicated to a "building and technology fund."

In Boulder, Colorado, only about 42 percent of registered City of Boulder voters cast a ballot in the 2005 city elections.