2021 Colorado Ballot, YuCo Edition
âŚan off year but with state level $$ measures and local elections. Cut to the chase: Colorado 2021 ballots are arriving. Mine landed today but I knew it was on the way thanks to the Colorado Ballot Tracker.Â
Here's a good overview of statewide ballot from the Colorado Sun, with links to more detailed explanations: Colorado election 2021 guide: What you need to know about the ballot initiatives and how to cast your vote. There's more on 2021 voting in October 7th Indivisible NOCO  Newsletter and elsewhere. Turn-out is especially important. Off year elections invariably have lower turnout. 2021 is an off-off year. In addition to the importance of exercising your right to vote and supporting the best education options for our communities, consider turnout efforts for this one as training for the 2022 midterms.
Moving down ballot to our local school board election, according to the October 7th Yuma Pioneer: Â page 1 & 3, "Key decisions are on the ballot being mailed out to active registered voters next week," the ballot covers Yuma school board candidates, local tax questions (2 for Yuma, one of which may be moot, and 1 for Eckley).
There will be a candidate forum in Yuma on Sunday, October 24 at 6 p.m. at Quintech -- more details as they emerge. Attend. If you can't, submit questions to [email protected]. Even if you attend, questions submitted in advance often have a better shot of being asked, especially if you take the time and effort to ask good questions. Multiple different questions on the same issue -- not carbon copy duplicates -- increase the odds of the issue be addressed.
Great Ed Colorado's Advocacy Network created a School Board 2021 Election Toolkit complete with 4 questions to ask every candidate. Admittedly, the questions do sound stilted and, being Yuma (or elsewhere in NE Colorado), rephrasing is in order: make them yours by putting them in your own words. Chalkbeat Colorado is another good source of sample questions.
Why are school board elections so important? Indivisible Rox Resistance produced a short non-partisan video, Do Your Homework, that highlights the importance of who serves on your local school board and why every citizen should care and vote in their local school board elections,
