Colorado voters today will set state fiscal policy, elect local government officials and settle local ballot questions that ask them to consider issues involving marijuana, teacher pay, tourism and taxes.
Though 35 counties are conducting this election entirely by mail, others, such as Denver and El Paso County, have established polling places.
Polls will close at 7 p.m. Election officials can only count absentee and mail-in ballots received before 7 p.m.
In some counties, political parties are collecting ballots at locations such as grocery stores and plan to submit them in bulk, said Dana Williams, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Gigi Dennis. But Williams recommended that voters personally deliver their ballots to the office of their county clerk and recorder.
“That way, you’re not depending on a third party or depending on someone you don’t know or trust,” Williams said. “If you take it to the county clerk and recorder’s office, you know it will get there and you know it will count.”
The secretary of state’s office will be fielding voting-related complaints today at 303-894-2200, ext. 6307.
The only statewide issue to be settled today is the Colorado Economic Recovery Act – the proposed revenue boost for state government offered by Referendums C and D. Referendum C asks voters to approve or reject a five-year suspension of surplus-tax refunds under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Referendum D asks voters to consider letting the state borrow money to invest in infrastructure improvements.
The referendums’ proponents call C and D necessary to the future prosperity of the state. Opponents dismiss them as unnecessary investments in an inefficient state government.
Voters in Denver will consider proposals such as 1A, which asks for a 1 percent increase in the lodging tax to benefit tourism-promotion efforts, and 3A, which creates a pay-for-performance pay scale for Denver Public Schools teachers.
The DPS compensation plan known as ProComp, funded by an increase in property taxes worth $25 million annually, would do away with union-negotiated contracts for teachers.
The proposed 1 percent hotel-tax increase in Denver would add an estimated $4 million to the annual marketing budget of the Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Denver voters also will fill four seats on the seven-member school board.
Initiative 100 on the Denver ballot asks voters to make it legal for adults older than 21 to possess up to an ounce of marijuana in the city.
Pot is on the Telluride ballot, too. There, Question 200 asks voters to set possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults as the lowest enforcement priority for the Telluride Marshal’s Department.
Lakewood officials are seeking the city’s first sales-tax increase since 1971 with a ballot measure that would boost the tax on nonfood items from 2 percent to 3 percent. The hike would raise an estimated $16.7million annually.
In the Broomfield mayor’s race, voters will choose between incumbent Karen Stuart, Councilman Clark Griep and Paul Madigan.
In Castle Rock, voters will decide whether all of the town or none of it should be included in tax districts for Denver’s Invesco Field at Mile High and the Regional Transportation District. About one-fifth of the town is included in the two districts now.
Boulder voters will elect five at-large members of their City Council.
Voters in Fort Collins will consider extending a quarter-cent sales tax to raise $56million to fund transportation, cultural, recreation and police projects.
Staff writers Monte Whaley, Joey Bunch, Robert Sanchez and Ann Schrader contributed to this report.
Staff writer Jim Hughes can be reached at 303-820-1244 or jhughes@denverpost.com.
Budget issue turns on statewide vote
THE STATEWIDE REFERENDUM: Referendum C loosens Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights spending limits for five years and boosts the base line for calculating future spending growth, setting aside money for roads, pensions, schools and health care programs. Taxpayers would give up about $3.7 billion in TABOR refunds, an average of about $500 per taxpayer over the five years. Some critics say the amount would be higher.
Referendum D allows the state to borrow up to $2.1 billion for 55 road projects, for school repairs in poor districts as required by a legal settlement, and for mandatory payments to pensions for firefighters and police officers.
COMPLAINTS: The secretary of state’s office will be fielding voting-related complaints today at 303-894-2200, ext. 6307.
QUESTIONS ABOUT VOTING: For more information about voting, contact your county clerk and recorder’s office:
Adams: 303-920-7850
Arapahoe: 303-795-4511
Boulder: 303-413-7740
Broomfield: 303-464-5888
Denver: 720-913-8683
Douglas: 303-660-7444
El Paso: 719-575-8683
Jefferson: 303-271-8111
Larimer: 970-498-7820
Weld: 970-304-6530
