City of Boulder 2B - Elections Administrative Charter Changes

The ballot language refers to this question as a “charter cleanup” but except for changing Section 37 to clarify that state law governs the process for charter amendments, the rest of the amendments are better described as “changes” than “cleanup.”

Currently, candidates for city council and mayor have to collect between 25 and 35 signatures with the signers required to show up in person to sign the candidate petition at the Municipal Building. The proposed change to Sections 27 of the city charter would allow candidates to take their petition offsite to collect signatures. If candidates want to continue having signing parties at the Municipal Building to fill in the petition in a single swoop, they could still do so.

The other three changes all have to do with giving the city clerk at least 5 more days to verify signatures on citizen initiative (Sec 39), referendum (Sec 46) and recall (Sec 57) petitions.

Recommendation: For the Measure

Because petition deadlines are in the charter, changing them requires approval of the electorate. Giving the clerk a few more days to process petitions will make the clerk happy and probably have little or no effect on the petitioners.

The main value of this charter change is to clarify the process for charter amendments. The City Attorney’s Office has been criticized for giving incorrect guidance on citizen initiatives – see the 2021 Bedrooms Are for People campaign. https://www.denverpost.com/2020/08/10/boulder-bedrooms-ballot-occupancy-limits/

City council has also been criticized for asking voters for a charter change regarding elections and then asking voters in an election soon after to correct a problem with that charter change – see 2021 City of Boulder Question 2L.

Website for the Yes side
No known website – Info on a proponents’ website appreciated.

Website for the No side
No known website – Info on an opponents’ website appreciated.


Approved Ballot Language
City of Boulder Ballot Question 2B
Elections Administrative Charter Cleanup

Shall Sections 27, 37, 39, 46, and 57 of the city Charter be amended pursuant to Ordinance 8587 to:
· remove the requirement that signers to petitions appear personally before the city clerk;
· clarify that state law governs the process for charter amendments;
· change the timing provisions of filing a petition to 160 days before an election instead of 150 days;
· change the number of days that the city clerk has to approve a petition to 15 days from 10 days; and
· change the number of days that the city clerk has to verify petition signatures from 10 to 15?

For the Measure ___
Against the Measure ___

Ordinance 8587 to refer Question 2B to the ballot
https://documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=182522&dbid=0&repo=LF8PROD2&_ga=2.88416603.1348057877.1697325494-181246305.1661276300&cr=1