The drumbeat is mounting. The messages will be heard on doorsteps and radio, on voice mail and street corners: Vote on Tuesday.
And more than that, “Vote our way.”
Both sides of the debate over Referendums C and D are mobilizing to make sure their supporters vote before 7 p.m. Tuesday and are trying, if still possible, to win the minds of the undecided.
“This is all a matter of turnout now. If 80 percent of our people come out and 90 percent of theirs do, they win,” Gov. Bill Owens said outside a campaign stop last week.
Owens is a leading Republican supporter of Referendums C and D, which would suspend state spending limits for five years and let the state use an estimated $3.7 billion – that would otherwise be refunded to taxpayers under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights – largely for schools, roads and health care.
To help get their message out, supporters are making 10,000 phone calls a day.
This weekend, an estimated 500 people will be knocking on doors from Denver to Durango.
The effort is two-pronged: remind supporters to cast a ballot and convince the fence- sitters, campaign manager Sheila MacDonald said as she waved a sign during rush hour on a busy Denver street corner last week.
When Jack Brown of Lakewood walked by, MacDonald tried to explain what the measures do.
“That’s the government. They’re spending the money unwisely,” Brown said.
MacDonald told Brown the money would go toward schools, health care and roads.
“They’re taking your tax money,” Brown said. “You can do that when you need the money, but there’s got to be a better way.”
That’s exactly the message opponents such as House minority leader Joe Stengel are hoping voters will hear this weekend when 100 volunteers knock on doors in El Paso County and the Denver metro area.
Stengel’s group, “If C Wins, You Lose,” also bought radio ads featuring Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman that target Republicans.
The group also sent mail to 240,000 Republicans.
The party is divided over supporting the measures.
Holtzman’s gubernatorial campaign is calling every registered Republican in the state, said Dick Leggitt, the campaign manager.
“We hope the turnout is substantial. I think the danger would be … with the mail ballots only the more affluent, better- educated folks would vote and the working people don’t,” Leggitt said.
Targeted mail, radio and phone calls are more cost- effective than television ads, Leggitt said, because they reach a higher number of likely voters.
The volunteer base is smaller this year because the state Republican Party – an organizational force behind get-out-the- vote drives – has stayed neutral, he said.
Bob Loevy, a political science professor at Colorado College, agreed.
“It’s my impression that this election is much more a money election than a volunteer election and that they’re relying on television ads more than anything else,” Loevy said.
The high volume of advertisements in the past few weeks is testament to how important each side views the election.
Usually, a slew of ads hits the airways when early voting begins and spikes again a few days before the election.
This year, Loevy said, they have remained constant.
The outside money funding the ads illustrates the election’s national importance, he said.
Looking beyond C and D
In addition to Referendums C and D, there are a number of local issues and races on ballots.
In Denver, voters will decide on a property-tax increase to compensate teachers for improved performance, an increase in the hotel tax, and the legalization of limited marijuana possession by those 21 and older.
Telluride also has a marijuana measure on the ballot.
Government officials and a watchdog group are urging voters in all-mail-ballot counties who have not yet received a ballot to visit their county clerk and recorder’s office to pick one up.
In Arapahoe County, voters in parts of Byers, Bennett and west Centennial have not received ballots, said Nancy Doty, county clerk and recorder. She is urging those voters to pick up a ballot at one of her offices.
Dana Williams, spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office, said all voters in mail-in-ballot counties should have a ballot by now. People who did not cast a ballot last year and did not respond to the confirmation card sent out by the county clerk will not receive a ballot, she said. But they can pick one up at their county clerk’s office.
Colorado is the only state in the country that votes Nov. 1 instead of Nov. 8, Williams said.
The constitutional Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights requires that tax questions be considered in an odd-year statewide election. That election must be held the first Tuesday of November, Williams said.
The city of Pueblo will hold a municipal election Nov. 8.
Staff writer Chris Frates can be reached at 303-820-1633 or cfrates@denverpost.com.
