Boulder – In a crowded special-election race for a single Boulder City Council seat, Ken Wilson, an engineer and telecommunications consultant, emerged victorious Tuesday night.
Wilson received 3,501 votes, 1,605 more votes than second-place finisher Matt Appelbaum. However, because of the large field – there were 14 candidates competing for the single seat – Wilson received only about 33 percent of the total votes cast.
The candidates were vying for the seat left vacant when longtime council member Tom Eldridge died in May.
There were 10,676 votes cast, giving this election an abnormally low turnout rate for Boulder of about 24 percent. A special election two years ago drew more than 13,000 votes, said City Clerk Alisa Lewis.
Still, Lewis said she was pleased with the turnout because the sudden death and the short campaigning window gave candidates and voters alike little time to prepare.
“Given those circumstances, I think that having that high of a turnout is really pretty remarkable,” she said.
Wilson could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
According to the city charter, Wilson will have to run for the seat again in November. One reason for the large number of candidates, political observers said, is that more than half the seats on the nine-member council will be up for grabs in November.
Candidate Eugene Pearson, who at age 24 was running for the council for the second time, said he was disappointed not to win. But, he said, he believes the race was a good practice run.
“I think we laid a very good groundwork for November,” Pearson said. “I’m very optimistic.”
With such a crowded field, candidates had to work hard to distinguish themselves in the pack. Candidate Alan O’Hashi used MySpace and YouTube to spread his message.
Tuesday night, O’Hashi said the low turnout and split results don’t yield a clear mandate. But, he said, at least the campaign brought a large number of people together to talk about issues most important to Boulder.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
