Save Boulder’s Local Elections
VOTE NO ON BALLOT MEASURE 2E
Vote NO on proposal to move our local City Council elections to even years.
Why vote NO? Moving local elections to even years would:
• Drown out City Council candidates’ focus on local concerns
• Eclipse local issues and local voices
• Increase partisanship and polarization in local elections
• Undermine good local government
VOTE NO ON MEASURE 2E
Even Year Elections Will Harm Local Democracy and Community Focus
This change would make our City Council elections an afterthought, lost in the noise of state and national races, and will have significant unintended consequences.
“Colorado election laws are already voter-friendly with mail-in ballots and same day voter registration. Pushing City Council races to the bottom of a multi-page ballot in national election years is bad news for good local governance. Please vote NO on 2E.”
Rep. Edie Hooton
Colorado HD10 State Representative
Contentious state and federal elections will overwhelm and drown out discussion of local issues
City Council candidates’ positions on local issues, from public safety and climate initiatives to clean water and flood protection, would be drowned out by the noise and conflict of national issues. It would be extremely hard to reach voters, who deserve the opportunity to focus on local issues while maintaining respectful spaces for discussion and debate.
BVSD school board candidates would be abandoned as lone local odd-year elections – BVEA endorses NO on 2E
School board elections must be held in odd years as mandated by state law. The 2E measure changes only the timing of Boulder City Council candidate elections. In the rush to put this measure on the ballot, the impacts on BVSD elections were not considered. No outreach to the school board (or any other body) was performed, leaving their concerns unheard. This is why the President of the BVSD board and BVEA, the association that represents our community’s teachers, urge a NO vote on 2E.
Voter turnout efforts will still ignore low-income and under-represented voters
Lower income registered voters traditionally have lower turnout rates and are consequently labeled as “unlikely” voters. In Boulder, moving local elections to even years will exacerbate low-turnout among marginalized residents as political parties and interest groups focus on the likely voters who will turn out for the national elections at the top of the ballot.
Measure 2E poses risks to BVSD school board elections. BVSD School Board Members make decisions that significantly impact the educational experiences of the 29,000 students living across the 11 municipalities in our district. Boulder is the largest city we serve, and I am concerned that separating BVSD School Board elections from the Boulder City Council elections will result in disproportionately fewer Boulder residents voting in our school board races. As a result, I’m voting NO on 2E.
Nicole Rajpal
Treasurer, BVSD Board of Education
I am voting NO on Ballot question 2E. By listing local initiatives at the end of a very lengthy ballot, it only reinforces the notion that local issues are less important than national concerns. I’d prefer to motivate voters to participate every year!
Ceal Barry
Former University of Colorado Basketball Coach and Senior Associate Athletic Director
Will 2E engage new people or increase the representativeness of our city council? After careful review of the research, the answer to these questions is No.
Mary Young
Former Boulder Mayor Pro Tem and CC Member
The proposed election change only shifts City Council. A change in state statute is required for school boards to change. Changes such as this should be done systematically and inclusively, not on a piecemeal basis leaving school districts alone to bear the costs of elections. Our money should be spent on our students, not elections. Systemic change works best when all the interested parties are engaged and can have thorough and fact based discussions, a process that did not occur here.
Kathy Gebhardt
President of the BVSD Board of Education
Measure 2E would create many likely downsides: community issues swamped by national campaigns, local candidates lost in the shuffle, school races with even fewer voters. This measure was rushed to the ballot with scant public input. It’s not ready for prime time, or your vote
Sam Weaver
Former Boulder Mayor and CC Member
Moving City Council elections to even years will decrease attention on important City Council elections and further increase the power of slates. Slates are problematic already: https://www.dailycamera.com/2021/10/14/opinion-andrew-shoemaker-sick-of-slates/ Let’s not make the problem worse.
Andrew Shoemaker
Former Boulder CC Member
Our elections for City Council are a nonpartisan, in-depth conversation between the community and the candidates. That conversation will be lost if Council elections are buried underneath contests for President, Senator, House, State representatives and judges. Odd-year elections have served this community well for decades. Vote “No” on 2E.
Mark Wallach
Boulder CC Member
If Boulder’s city council elections are shifted to even years, the remaining odd-year elections–for school board and for local ballot measures and tax questions–will be “orphaned,” with even lower voter turnout.
Bob Yates Winer
Boulder CC Member
Further erodes trust in local Government
The process to place this item onto the ballot has been rushed and sloppy with only a single pro-forma opportunity for public input. The City Council ignored their own public engagement processes on this very substantial procedural change – a change that affects our primary right and responsibility as voters. This ballot measure would set a precedent for City Council to bypass public input and reward a rushed and unpublicized ballot item process. It’s a breach of trust by elected officials.
Opens our local elections to increased partisanship and special interest influence
Even-year elections overflow with campaign money accompanied by the influence of special interest groups. Moving the elections to even-years will absolutely open our local elections to partisanship and ideologues. Research shows nationalizing local elections changes the incentives for candidates, who turn their attention to national issues and away from effective local governance. The same research reveals that nationalizing elections increases polarization and partisanship.
Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it
Holding non-partisan elections in odd years became the norm (along with non-partisan local governance and home rule charters) for cities and local municipalities over 100 years ago. It was a successful effort to focus odd years on municipal services and governance. This model has served us well for over a century by balancing a focus on local issues in odd years with the necessary attention to state and national elections in even years.
Changing the timing of our elections would detract from attention to local issues. This move would be bad for local governance and a well-functioning city.
VOTE NO ON MEASURE 2E
Instead of changing to even year elections, we should make a real impact by:
- Increasing outreach to unlikely voters, targeting under-represented groups.
- Increasing support for candidates of all races and incomes to serve on City Council.
- Fighting to keep voting accessible, such as including postage-paid ballot envelopes.
- Discussing alternative voting systems like ranked choice voting with City Council and the public in order to elect Council members more fairly.
Measure 2E will diminish local issues and deliver longer ballots, but not better elections.
“The Clerk’s office encourages any city … interested in transitioning … to even-year elections to engage in a robust stakeholder process to understand the impacts on voters from voters as well as the groups that work to engage and educate voters.
Molly Fitzpatrick, Boulder County Clerk
Memo to Boulder City Council – June 2nd, 2022
Endorsements
Elected officials, former office holders, and your friends and neighbors across Boulder
encourage you to reject ballot measure 2E.
State Representatives for Boulder and Gunbarrel
Rep. Edie Hooton
Colorado HD10 State Representative
Senator Rollie Heath
Former State Senate Majority Leader
Boulder Valley School District
Kathy Gebhardt
President of BVSD Board of Education
Nicole Rajpal
Treasurer, BVSD Board of
Education
Stacey Zis
BVSD Board of Education
Member
Tina Marquis
Former President of
BVSD Board of Education
Lesley Smith
Former BVSD Board of
Education Member
Laurie Albright
Former President of
BVSD Board of Education
Tina Mueh
Former Boulder Valley Education
Association (BVEA) President
Boulder County Commissioners
Josie Heath
Former Boulder County Commissioner
City Council Members and Advisory Boards
Mark Wallach
Boulder CC Member
Tara Winer
Boulder CC Member
Bob Yates
Boulder CC Member
Michael Christy
Boulder Cannabis Licensing Board Member
John Gerstle
Boulder Planning Board Member
Brooke Harrison
Boulder County Board of Health Member
Sarah Silver
Boulder Planning Board Member
Hernán Villanueva
Boulder Environmental Advisory Board Member
Cindy Carlisle
Former Boulder CC Member & CU Regent
Allyn Feinberg
Former Boulder CC Member
Crystal Gray
Former Boulder CC Member
Suzanne Jones
Former Boulder Mayor and CC Member
George Karakehian
Former Boulder Mayor Pro Tem and CC Member
Lisa Morzel
Former Boulder Mayor Pro Tem and CC Member
Susan Osborne
Former Boulder Mayor and CC Member
Francoise Poinsatte
Former Boulder CC Member
Steve Pomerance
Former Boulder CC Member
Gordon Riggle
Former Boulder CC Member
Andrew Shoemaker
Former Boulder CC Member
Phil Stern
Former Boulder CC Member
Sam Weaver
Former Boulder Mayor and CC Member
Mary Young
Former Boulder Mayor Pro Tem and CC Member
Organizations
South East Boulder
Neighborhood Association (SEBNA)
Your Friends and Neighbors
Karl Anuta
Barb Appel
Michele Bishop
Matt Bissonette
Brian Bonnlander
Marsha Caplan
Leslie Chandler
David Driscoll
Mary Cooper Ellis
Barbara Fahey
Lili Francklyn
Leslie Glustrom
Jane Greenfield
Hal Hallstein
Jim Hooton
Beth Isacke
Nancy Kornblum
Susan David Lambert
Sue Larson
John Lichter
Peggy Lichter
Leonard May
Michael McCarthy
Angela McCormick
Judith McGill
Ulla Merz
Hope Michelsen
Sara Mitton
Jeff Mitton
Ning Mosberger-Tang
Donnie Novak
Emily Reynolds
Leadership Team, ThinkBoulder
Gordon Riggle
Jack S Rook III
Shari Roth
Karen Sandburg
Lisa Spalding
Britta Singer
Mark Stangl
Phil Stern
Gail and Porter Storey
Tim Thomas
Fred Thrall
Richard Valenty
Stuart Walker
Bart Windrum
Peggy Wrenn
Valerie Yates
Help Us With a Donation!
Please consider making a donation to help us defeat Ballot Question 2E. Your donation will help us get the word out and inform voters. Use the form here to get started.
In an effort to keep our election fair and equitable, Save Local Elections will only be accepting donations from individuals, not companies, and all donations will be capped at $1,000.
For donations by check, please make a check payable to Save Local Elections and mail it to:
1135 Jay St
Boulder, CO
80302
In the News
September 30th, 2022
City of Boulder Ballot Question 2E: Even-Year Council Elections
by Richard Valenty
September 29th, 2022
Guest opinion: Mary Dolores Young: There are better ways to engage voters than even-year elections
by Mary Dolores Young
August 19th, 2022
Opinion: Steve Pomerance: Former council members oppose shift to even-year council elections
by Steve Pomerance