The bottom line? When it comes to voting close to home, we need to do better.
You have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain.
Your ballot must be submitted by 7 p.m. tomorrow, May 7. It’s too late to mail in your ballot, but the material that accompanied your ballot lists the locations of polling centers and the numerous 24-hour ballot drop-off boxes, which is about as easy as it can get.
Municipal elections do not carry the glitz of national elections. But the grass root elections – mayor, city council representatives, clerk and recorder, auditor, and initiatives – have a real impact on our life.
In a story in 5280 this past March, the writer touched on the fact that municipal elections don’t get much action. That’s such a shame – especially this year, a year of potential change.
“In short, city elections are important, even if participation in them is lacking. In Denver’s last city election in 2015, only about 24 percent of registered voters turned out. Compare that to the 2018 midterms, when 64 percent of registered Denver voters cast their ballots, and the 2016 presidential election, which saw a whopping 71 participation among Denverites, and it’s evident that local elections are often not sexy enough to attract voters.”
I’m not a numbers person, but the material on the link below tells a big story – and in some years, it’s a little story. It is a chart of every Denver election dating back to 1986, including voter registrations and vote counts. In 1990, Denver’s population was about 467,000 – a city in decline because of the oil bust; now, the population of Denver is more than 700,000.
The link below to Ballotpedia includes fairly up-to-date information on campaign finances involving mayoral candidates, in terms of receipts, disbursements, and cash-on-hand.
https://ballotpedia.org/Mayoral_election_in_Denver,_Colorado_(2019)
Finally, here are links to three interesting pieces that focus on this election, especially Dave Krieger’s razor-sharp examination of the mayoral election posted in Sunday’s Colorado Sun.
https://coloradosun.com/2019/05/05/krieger-its-time-for-a-change-at-denver-city-hall/
Chandler in Denver 