The Boulder City Council special election ends tonight when all the mail-in ballots are counted and a winner is named to fill a four-month term.
“It’s been a whirlwind campaign,” said Eugene Pearson, one of those vying for the open seat. “It’s been a 60-day sprint. I’m looking forward to the four-month marathon.”
Fourteen candidates have spent the last two months vying for the seat that opened when longtime Councilmember Tom Eldridge died in May. The city mailed out 44,800 ballots, of which about 8,400 have been returned. City Clerk Alisa Lewis said she expects more than 10,000 ballots to be turned in by the 7 p.m. deadline today.
“I think we’re doing pretty darn good, all things considered,” Lewis said.
Still, the number is far fewer than in most elections, including the last time a special election was held, in 2005. Lewis said the short time frame for the election and the fact it is taking place in the summer, when many voters may be on vacation, accounts for the low turnout. Pearson said voters also may be flummoxed by the large field.
“A lot of people have been overwhelmed by the amount of candidates and the short period of time to make that decision,” he said.
But if voters are struggling with the number of contenders, so are the candidates.
“It’s really been a matter of getting the word out about my candidacy,” said Alan O’Hashi.
O’Hashi turned to the Internet and word of mouth to spread his message quickly. He used his MySpace site to promote his campaign, posted videos on YouTube and took his message “viral” by having his friends talk to and e-mail their friends and so on.
“The approach,” he said, “is that new media gives everybody a chance to be an opinion leader, not just the elites.”
Angelique Espinoza, another candidate, said she knocked on hundreds of doors as well as using e-mail lists to spread her message broadly.
“E-mail really lends itself to be a great tool for this kind of campaign with such short notice,” she said.
Espinoza said the shortened campaign meant candidates had to be substantive throughout, addressing such key Boulder issues as revenue stabilization, open space, climate change and scrape-off home development.
But as for who stood out from the crowd most with voters, candidates said it’s anybody’s guess.
“This is going to be a game of inches,” O’Hashi said.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
