2023 Election Results and Looking to 2024

All the 2023 ballot measures passed, except for Prop HH. Prop HH was a complicated property tax measure referred by the legislature, and its opponents were able to raise questions in the electorate’s mind.

Supporters of the 2023 2A tax extension which would split the tax proceeds 50/50 between the general fund and the arts feel betrayed by the proposed new budget numbers. The city says that the 2A proponents were forewarned: “Nothing in the ballot language mandated the tax revenue be added to current spending; it only specified that the money brought in by the sales tax be split evenly between ‘arts, culture and heritage purposes’ and general fund purposes.” (Boulder Weekly, April 23, 2024)

Question 302 “Safe Zones 4 Kids” easily passed with 20,261 votes (61% of the vote). One of the main proponents of Question 302, Terri Brncic, was a candidate for city council and received 14,365 votes, coming in 46 votes behind the 4th-place city council candidate. With such a slim margin of victory (or loss, depending on one’s point of view), the county clerk was compelled to conduct a recount of the city council election.

The tabulation for the new mayoral election using ranked voting went smoothly, but negative campaigning soured the experience for some voters.

Looking ahead, a ballot measure enshrining the right to abortion in the constitution and another one about property taxes have already qualified for the 2024 ballot. Five more measures have submitted signatures for review, and ten more are approved for collecting signatures. One that is expected to be on the ballot (because it’s very well-funded) would change the way primary and general elections are conducted for most federal and state offices – except that the legislature put a stalling provision in a bill at the end of the session.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris has hit the ground running as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee after Biden dropped his reelection bid on Sunday, July 21. Donald Trump was amazingly lucky on July 13 to survive an assassination attempt with only a bloody ear. What a month this has been!