Colorado State U. Students Likely To Ignore Local Elections
This story was written by Erik Myers, Rocky Mountain Collegian
It's unlikely that most registered voters in Fort Collins, Colo., will bother, but Evan Rosenlieb, a Colorado State University freshman economics major, will be mailing in his ballot for Larimer County's coordinated election this year.
"The ballot only has two issues that I can actually vote on," Rosenlieb said. "Obviously, it's not a very big election, but I probably am still gonna do it."
While the local politics of Loveland are abuzz with races for mayor and five city council seats, most Fort Collins residents will be limited to voting for two Poudre School District board seats. Trena Anastasia and Barbara Schwerin will be competing for District A. Competing for District G will be M.L. Johnson and Bobs Kingwood.
Rosenlieb grew up in Fort Collins and attended PSD schools. Rosenlieb studied under both Core Knowledge and International Baccalaureate, public K-12 education programs which offer learning styles and core curriculum that differs from general education. Rosenlieb said students of such programs had boosted PSD and Colorado federal test scores, so the programs were a specific issue he'd be looking for candidates to address.
"I would not have been able to have that experience had there not been support in the school board at that point," Rosenlieb said. "I guess the point I'm trying to make is that no matter how small the election might seem, it'll probably always have some sort of effect."
General elections such as this year's receive less attention from members of the public than those of midterm or presidential years, and as such, voters will be required to mail in their ballots. Scott Doyle, Larimer County clerk and commissioner, said by requiring mail-in ballots, tax dollars were saved and voter turnout increased.
Doyle added that ballots had only been sent out to regularly participating voters in the county, which had totaled to 135,000. Even though voters who have registered past Oct. 9 of this month are not eligible to vote, those eligible who did not receive ballots are still able to do so.
"If anybody wanted to vote now, and they didn't have a ballot, they ought to be calling our office to see if they're eligible to vote in this election," Doyle said. "If they are, we will give them a ballot right now."
Voters are required to mail in their ballots by 7:00 p.m., on Election Day, Nov. 6. Those still seeking ballots should contact Larimer County's Election Office at 970-498-7820.
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