Boulder moving toward even-year election ballot issue

Jun. 15—Boulder voters are likely to be asked to decide whether they want to institute even-year City Council elections in November.

When that happens, they'll also have to consider whether they want to extend each of the current nine City Council members' term by a year.

The Boulder City Council majority agreed in a conversation on Tuesday that doing so would be the simplest and most equitable way to handle one of the challenges created by a move to even-year City Council elections — something those in support argue will increase voter turnout for local municipal elections.

"One of the reasons that we are interested in seeing if voters would like to move to even years is because there's 15 to 20,000 more voters who turn up in even years and would potentially be voting in our local council member elections," Councilmember Nicole Speer said on Tuesday

The National Civic League provides the example of Baltimore, where voter turnout increased from 13% to 60% when it shifted to on-cycle local elections in 2016.

If the measure is approved for the ballot in August and then supported by voters in the November election, it would have implications beyond extended terms for the current City Council.

It also would mean electing the city's mayor through ranked-choice voting would no longer begin in 2023, the timeframe set forth in the ballot measure Boulder voters overwhelmingly supported in the November 2020 election.

Mayoral elections would instead begin in 2026. Though supported by the City Council majority, this change is contrary to the preference of the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder's Office.

Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Molly Fitzpatrick, who attended Tuesday's City Council meeting, said her office would prefer to continue on the 2023 timeline, given the work it began putting in to prepare for it once the ballot measure passed.

"We are committed to implementing elections that are secure and transparent and accessible, and I think there's a lot of benefit to Boulder County being the first county to lead the way for this," she said. "We can really help shape what it will look like for other jurisdictions moving forward.

"We like the idea of leading," Fitzpatrick added. "But most of all, we like the idea of continuing with the plans that we've already laid out for ourselves and the resources that we've already secured for ourselves."

Boulder County played a large role in advocating for a bill signed into law last summer that will make conducting ranked-choice voting easier.

But Mayor Pro Tem Rachel Friend expressed concerns about the City Council being the entity determining whether to extend its own terms or to begin even-year elections later, thereby extending future members' terms.

As someone with strong feelings about whether or not she'd want to serve another year, Friend said it might be hard to separate that from the concept of even-year elections, which she supports.

Councilmember Bob Yates agreed with Friend's concern.

"We're having a hypothetical discussion where there's a real life impact," he said. "We may have people who resign."

Councilmember Mark Wallach is among those who said he would resign if required to serve an additional year. He recommended that the city build in a process to help it find replacement City Council members if the initiative is successful.

Ultimately, the City Council acknowledged that Boulder voters will have the final say over whether any of this should happen.

"It's really the voters who will decide," Speer said.

Although this conversation was not conducted during a public hearing — that will happen in August when City Council OKs measures for the upcoming November ballot — there have been mixed opinions about the idea of even-year elections.

Celeste Landry, a member of the League of Women Voters of Boulder County, recommended that Boulder instead encourage participation in odd-year elections by implementing civic-duty voting.

To do so, Landry said the city could nudge people to vote by posting the names of non-voters and the date of the election on the city's website.

People are required in vote in other countries such as Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Singapore and Uruguay. In Australia, people can turn in a blank ballot or provide a valid reason for not voting and Landry proposed a similar concept for Boulder.

Implementing civic-duty voting would avoid what Landry views as potential costs of even-year elections, including voter drop-off for the remaining odd-year elections such as school board elections, state ballot fiscal measures and local ballot measures.

"This proposal is low risk with a high potential for reward," Landry said. "Plus, Boulder would collect valuable voter data."