This week the ballots are in the mail in Larimer County and elsewhere around the state. Here are my recommendations.
For candidates, vote strictly Republican. The other major party has failed in just about every category and I see no reason to feed that beast in any way. It is also important to support the governor’s race. Major party status is maintained through the vote totals for governor.
For judges I generally vote no because: 1. Whereas many judges are doing the best they can, overall the Colorado court system, especially at the highest levels, is known for politically biased decisions (look at the effort to keep Trump off of the ballot in 2024, which SCOTUS soundly rejected). 2. Usually about 70% of the votes are yes, to retain the judges. If a judge has been particularly bad, it would be hard to not retain that judge if we who know little about their record all automatically vote yes. 3. Not one judge received a single negative vote by the judicial review commission. I find that to be a suspiciously perfect record which gives the voter zero meaningful information.
For the ballot questions I shall be as brief as possible.
Amendment 81, yes. We must override Colorado’s leadership that refuses to cooperate with proper border enforcement.
Amendment 82, yes. Natural gas must not be banned by any political body or leader.
Amendment 83, yes. Hunting and fishing needs this constitutional protection to guard against those who would have us all eating veggie burgers and crickets.
Amendment 84, yes. This is a meaningful step toward true election integrity.
Amendment 85, no. I have watched the Title Board too many times to think they have the capacity and/or political will to actually abide by this straightforward requirement. The political factors for the Title Board override their constitutional duties whenever there is an issue of consequence and I am sure they will abuse this common sense concept to make ballot titles longer, more cumbersome and even more difficult to understand.
Amendment 86, no. The only substantial change that this does to redistricting is to create a way to redistrict more than once every ten years. That is actually a recipe for more political shenanigans in redistricting, not less.
Amendment 87, no. Flat taxes work, graduated taxes tell high earners to leave the state. 87 is also not indexed to inflation so more and more taxpayers will find inflation pushing them into higher tax brackets.
Proposition NN, no NO. TABOR busting big government boondoggle.
Proposition 132, yes. Fentanyl is dangerous and must be stopped.
Proposition 133, yes. Child sex trafficking is dangerous and should not be tolerated in Colorado.
Proposition 134, yes. This is a common sense requirement that biological men should not be allowed into women’s sports and women’s spaces.
Proposition 135, yes. Cutting healthy body parts off of children has no place in Colorado.
Proposition 136, yes. We the People must reaffirm the flat income tax (until income tax is eliminated).
Proposition 137, no. Another TABOR busting big government boondoggle.
Front Range Rail District 7A, no. Another TABOR busting boondoggle.
For more information on TABOR specifics click here.
For more information about Propositions 133, 134 and 135 click here.
