Wheat Ridge preps for first runoff election
Wheat Ridge appears headed for their first runoff in the history of the city.
In the race for city clerk, Janelle Shaver leads with 34.87 percent of the vote with Maureen Keller closely trailing with 32.36 percent and Leah Dozeman and Lenny Ortiz running a distant third and fourth respectively. However, the city’s charter states that the city clerk must be elected by a majority of the electors, or more than 50 percent.
Current City Clerk Michael Snow is now preparing to hold a runoff election between Shaver and Keller that he said is scheduled for Dec. 13 and will be done by mail.
Snow said that this rule is only for the positions of city clerk, treasurer and mayor and does not apply to other races where the victor does not receive more than 50 percent of the vote.
In other races District 4 incumbent Wheat Ridge City Councilwoman Tracy Langworthy appears to have a fight on her hands. In early voting, she was leading challenger Tracy Guildner by just 2 percentage points.
Other council races are not as close as William “Bud” Starker holds a solid lead over Monica Duran, Karen Thaler and Jesse Hill in District 1. Kristi Davis leads Zach Urban, Lily Griego and George Vendegnia in District 2. George Pond won the open District 3 seat and was unopposed.
Larry Schulz looks to be the next city treasurer, holding 55.81 percent of the vote over Dick Matthews.
Joe Vaccarelli, The Denver Post
