Call to Action
Prepare your own personal Voter Guide and Share it with Friends and Family.
Do your research and commit yourself to a position on each candidate and issue before you vote.
Here is MWR’s voter guide to get you started on your own.
Personalized Voter Guides Work! Make Your Own!
For many decades members of MyWeeklyResistance have written and widely shared our personal voter guides. We send them out to family, friends, and anyone on our mailing list (unless we know that political outreach is unwelcome.) These are simple letters that run through our own local ballot saying how we intend to vote on each candidate and election issue. Anyone can write one up in an hour or two. This is one of the most effective personal political actions we know of. Do it!
Use This as an Opportunity to Get Clarity on the Issues
Every year the ballot is full of unfamiliar and complicated issues. By sitting down now to run through the ballot you can clarify your own thoughts and help others who realize too late that they are unsure of how to vote on a particular issue. Often it takes a bit of thought and research to directly address each ballot question. Be clear in your mind what your opinion is and then, if you think there might be doubt in your friend’s minds, offer a very short explanation of your position.
Increase Your Political Influence
Over the years, these Voter Guides have been best sellers! People begin asking for them weeks before the election. Of course there are a variety of other sources where your friends can get voting direction - newspapers, civic groups, political parties - but your opinion matters to the people you know!
Here is the Voter Guide that we are sending out this year. It is written specifically for our home jurisdiction: Boulder, Colorado. If you live in our city, county or region then please consult it when you sit down with your 2024 general election ballot. If you live elsewhere, feel free to use it as a simple template for making your own Voter Guide.
Voter Guide for the 2024 General Election for Boulder, Colorado
The 2024 General Election is finally here! We have been writing about the headline candidates and issues for many months now but there is more to the election than Kamala Harris and the Congressional races. Here are our recommendations for the state, county and city ballot questions and candidate races on this year’s Boulder ballot.
Candidate Recommendations
We will be voting for the Democratic Party candidates in each race. Boulder is effectively a one party county. We have reviewed the candidates standing for office this year. Voting the party line is not necessarily a given, but the reality is that the Republicans have not put up a compelling candidate for a number of years now. This year is no different. There are no city candidate elections this year.
We support Karen Bender for the non-partisan RTD District O board position.
Colorado Statewide Ballot Measures
Amendment G - Yes
Veterans with disabilities receive a reduction in their property tax. This measure expands the definition of who is eligible to include veterans who are rated “unemployable.”
Amendment H - Yes
The legislature developed this independent board to oversee judicial ethics in the Colorado Court system. There have been problems that the current judicial self-policing system has failed to deal with.
Amendment I - Yes
When Colorado eliminated the death penalty, we did not adjust the bail provisions to take account of the change. This provision allows a judge to deny bail in certain First Degree Murder cases when the proof is evident or the presumption of guilt is great that the person committed the crime.
Amendment J - Yes
This repeals language in the current constitution that says marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Thus, it allows for same sex marriage even if the U.S. Supreme Court reverses its current case law.
Amendment K - Yes
The constitutional deadlines for filing and approving ballots are currently too tight to allow proper review by county elections officials. This lengthens the time that election workers have to finalize the ballot.
Initiative 79 - Yes
This recognizes a constitutional right to abortion and repeals the current ban on state or local funding for abortion services. It protects abortion rights in the event of a change in the legislature that repeals our current state law.
Initiative 80 - No
This creates a new constitutional right to school choice. We are adamantly opposed to this amendment which will further erode public school funding. There is currently a statutory system of school choice which is working and will remain in place if this measure is defeated.
Referred Statutory Measure JJ - Yes
This allows the state to retain all the money collected from voter approved sports gambling taxes and to spend it on water projects. A no vote sends this money back to the casinos.
Referred Statutory Measure KK - Yes
The legislature passed this measure to raise $39 million from gun dealers and manufacturers to be spent on mental health services for military veterans, at-risk youth, school safety and gun violence prevention and support for victims of domestic violence. The voters are asked to ratify this statute.
Statutory Initiative 127 - No
This creates a statutory prohibition on the killing of Bobcats, Lynx, and Mountain Lions. While we are sympathetic to the intent of this proposal, we don’t think it has been shown that the current state regulatory protections have failed. Lynx haunting is and will continue to be illegal under federal law.
Statutory Initiative 128 -No
The measure tightens parole eligibility for people convicted of certain violent crimes. While it sounds tough on criminals it also makes it harder for prison officials to reward good behavior in prison making it harder to control behavior in prisons.
Statutory Initiative 129 - No
Colorado has a shortage of large animal (farm) veterinarians. This creates a new category of veterinary assistant with less expertise and training to help in the crisis. Unfortunately the standards in this initiative seem to be too permissive. We don’t think it will much help and it may do damage.
Statutory Initiative 130 - No
This creates a massive mandatory unfunded mandate to train and fund law enforcement officers. This is a tough on crime boondoggle. Our best estimate is that most of the $350 million mandate will come directly out of the state’s schools budgets.
Statutory Initiative 131 - No
Measure 131 creates a new primary and general election system that is intended to open up the primary election so that all voters can select from any candidate without regard of their party. General elections would be held from among the top 4 candidates for each office and run according to a ranked choice voting procedure. The vast majority of voters are unfamiliar with this type of election. We do not believe that Colorado’s current electoral procedures are broken. This is a gimmick that does nothing to increase democratic transparency.
Regional Transportation District Measure 7A - Yes
This allows RTD to retain the tax money collected in the most recent period instead of returning 10% of the collections as required under current law. The loss of this money would further degrade the services provided by RTD.
City of Boulder Measure 2C - Yes
Serving on Boulder City Council is a big job! The paperwork is voluminous and the time and stress of public contact is extensive. Currently Council members are paid a stipend totaling approximately $12,000 for attending meetings throughout the year. This measure would create a salary of 50% of the Area Median Income for the Mayor (approx. $51,000) and 40% of AMI for council members (approx. $41,000).
City of Boulder Measure 2D- Yes
Boulder’s sunshine law is highly restrictive; it does not permit Council to hold executive sessions. Among many other negative effects this has limited the candidates for top city executive positions. This measure would allow for executive sessions under certain circumstances.
City of Boulder Measure 2E - Yes
Boulder relies on its voluntary Boards and Commissions to do the initial work of outreach to the public on many important matters. The City Charter has very rigid requirements for service. This measure allows Council to modify those rules in an effort to get more effective representation.
Retention of Judges
Colorado requires that Judges face a retention election after a number of years on the bench. Judges are reviewed by a commission that offers everyone who appeared before a Judge the opportunity to submit comments and complaints. These remarks are then reviewed and the commission then makes a recommendation about whether the judge should be retained. All of this can be found at the back of the State Ballot Information Booklet aka “The Blue Book.” Most of the Judges up for retention this year received strong recommendations though some had mixed reviews. If you choose to vote in this category, we urge you to review to comments and recommendations.