2021 Elections: Whose Views Matter?
The last time I wrote on my website, I had hope that 2021 might wind up better than 2020, though the results to date have been mixed. 2021 basically started with a violent and tragic insurrection on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC. In March, Boulder suffered through a horrific mass shooting at King Soopers. With a decent percentage of the nation willing to take the new COVID-19 vaccines, hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID declined for a time in 2021, but they went back on a frightening rise later in the year – “thanks” in part to the Delta variant and troubling widespread national avoidance of public safety measures that might have helped limit the spread.
But it’s not my intent to drag readers down here. Despite that in some ways the times have a-changed, many of us still want to move on into the future, whatever this uncertain future may hold in store. Local voters will define some of the frameworks for that political and fiscal future with our choices in the 2021 elections!
For this year’s Voter Guide, I’m sharing information about Boulder City Council candidates, Boulder Valley School District Board of Education candidates, City of Boulder ballot measures, and State of Colorado ballot measures. There are links to the right to pages for all four categories. I’m posting profiles and analyses as they’re completed, so please check back later if your candidate or issue isn’t posted yet!
Boulder City Council: New Faces Coming
Gone are the days when Spense Havlick, Bob Greenlee, Lisa Morzel, and a few others served on Council for give or take 20 years. Some of that may be due to a 2016 ballot measure establishing term limits, but a number of sitting Council members also decided against running for re-election this year despite having eligibility left.
So, in 2021 only one incumbent is running out of the 10 candidates, and it’s the smallest field of total candidates in my memory. Those who win will discuss and make binding decisions on issues such as housing and shelter, land use, public safety, transportation and infrastructure, climate action, and perhaps new challenges we haven’t yet imagined. Also, the composition of the Council as a whole often makes a difference when it comes to the Council’s general political direction.
I interviewed all 10 candidates this summer, and tried to go a bit beyond their positions on hot-button issues, which in retrospect might have been good because a lot of policy answers really started to sound a bit “familiar” after a while. Coaching? Possibly. I tried to put focus on who the candidates are as people, including where they came from, who’s supporting them, and how they would approach decision-making for a city of 108,000 people with some general political similarities, yet also some wide and hot differences in viewpoints.
Boulder Valley School District Board of Education: Modern Challenges
Education has always been a key to our future, both as individuals and as a society. Yet 2021 has exposed some real concerns that could be quite relevant to P-12 education and to our BVSD.
The Delta variant of COVID has already been dangerous or even deadly to a number of U.S. kids, whereas the situation in 2020 didn’t seem to be quite as dangerous to schoolchildren. Last year’s pandemic also disrupted educational operations, which led to at the bare minimum barriers to learning progress. The next BVSD Board will face these challenges on top of the more familiar issues like finances, infrastructure, educational performance, curriculum, diversity, technology, physical safety, and more.
Members of the BVSD Board are elected at-large from all BVSD voters, but candidates are running to represent geographic districts. This year, three candidates and a write-in are running in District B (northwestern City of Boulder, plus Lefthand and Fourmile Canyons), three more in District E (a bit of southeastern Boulder, the City of Louisville, and unincorporated areas), and an incumbent is running unopposed in District F (largely in Broomfield).
I sent all candidates a questionnaire, asking about their qualifications, their educational experience, and their take on several top issues. I’m including BVSD in my election guide for the first time this year, since I’ve often heard that people don’t pay the same attention to these races as they might for others, and the performance of our school district is so important for our local future.
State and City Ballot Measures: Citizens Making Law
Boulder and the State of Colorado allow citizen initiatives, along with ballot measures referred to voters by elected bodies. In this way, “the people” can literally make law, set tax policy, or enact whatever proposal proponents might imagine (assuming the measure is constitutional or legally defensible).
I’ll encourage voters to take the “making law” part of all this very seriously, since it is completely possible to miss potential problems if people don’t read the entirety of what they’re voting on. The ballot titles listed on your ballot won’t describe the measure in full, let alone fill you in on the context. I’m including a write-up on each ballot measure City of Boulder voters will see in 2021, with top pro-con considerations plus links to more information.
No matter what, I hope all readers will cast a ballot this year, and happy voting!
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