Let’s be honest: Voting can feel overwhelming. Don’t be embarrassed. We’re journalists, we understand feeling cynical and burned out.
But we also know voting is a privilege, and — sorry to go Civics 101 on you — nowhere do our votes have more power than right here at home.
Each year Boulder Weekly creates a guide to help residents across the county vote in state, county and municipal elections. This year we’ve chosen to break our Vote Guide out across two issues. Ballots are being mailed later this year — Oct. 16 — meaning we can take a bit more time to research these candidates and issues and still present you with all the information you need before your ballot hits your mailbox. This first issue contains endorsements for the state and county ballot issues, and for Boulder and Longmont city council candidates and ballot measures. The second covers cover Louisville, Lafayette, Erie, Superior and the BVSD Board of Education.
Our endorsements were made through questionnaires, interviews and countless hours of research and conversation. There is no anonymous, corporate editorial board making these decisions, just four journalists: some who live in town, some who commute in, each of us renters. We share progressive values that uphold social justice, equal opportunities, compassion, social welfare, diversity and inclusion, and we hope our endorsements reflect these principles.
While we’ve provided an endorsement for every candidate and issue, not every conclusion was easy. We’ve done our best to choose candidates we believe are driven by a similar progressive mission, but no one sees eye to eye on everything — and that’s the point of democracy, right?
Ballot measures typically deal with money, and with elevated inflation, rising property taxes and astronomical energy bills, we know the slew of measures seeking dollars, particularly in Longmont, might feel overwhelming to some residents, especially those on fixed incomes who may have called Boulder County home for decades before the influx of tech bros, cannabis investors and remote workers.
We’ve provided context and background with our endorsements so whether you agree with our take or not, we hope we give you enough information to feel comfortable in your own opinion. You can navigate the links below to see our endorsements, questionnaires from each council candidate and links to more information on every issue.
At the end of the day, we’re journalists. We just want to help you be informed — and by all means, tell us what we got wrong (but please don’t be afraid to tell us if we got something right). Send your thoughts to [email protected].
— Caitlin Rockett, Boulder Weekly Editor-in-Chief
