Voter Guide for the Mesa County Ballot for the Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 election

Are you wondering how to vote in the Tuesday, November 5, 2024 General Election? Are you worried about where you’re going to find the time to research all of the candidates and ballot measures, especially on such a long ballot?

Relax.

AnneLandmanBlog has done all the work for you.

Following is a summary of recommended votes for the 2024 Mesa County General Election on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

I determined how to vote on ballot measures by reading and analyzing each measure, finding out who pushed to get it on the ballot and why, who is funding the effort, who is opposing it, the arguments for and against each measure, and whether the policies would protect or erode public institutions. I determined which candidates to vote for by evaluating their policy positions and whether they would protect or erode public institutions, whether the candidates would work to protect or erode Colorado citizens’ rights and freedoms, whether they would strive to represent all citizens or just people who agree with them politically, the candidates’ character, experience, whether their policy positions are based in reality or on conspiracy theories and whether they told the truth in their advertising. I did not recommend a vote for any candidate who lied in their advertising. For candidates who have held elected office before, I considered their previous track record while they were in office.

I made no recommendations on how to vote where incumbents are running unopposed.

To decide whether or not to retain judges, I analyzed the judges’ performance surveys submitted by attorneys and other judges who have had experiences with them. If a substantial number (25% or more) of survey responders said the judge did not meet performance standards, I recommended a vote against them. In the cases of the Supreme Court justices, I reviewed how the judges had ruled on important legal cases.

Here are the recommendations:

Federal Offices:

U.S. President and Vice President: Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

District 3 Congressional Representative: Adam Frisch

State Offices:

State Board of Education Member, Congressional District 3: Ellen Angeles

Regent of the University of Colorado At-Large: Elliott Hood

Regent of the University of Colorado, Congressional District 3: Robert B. Logan

State Representative, District 55 – Rick Taggart is running unopposed.

District Attorney – 21st Judicial District – Dan Rubinstein is running unopposed.

County Offices:

Retired CMU Professor Dr. Tom Acker is running for the District 1 Commissioner seat against Cody Davis

Mesa County Commissioner, District 1: Tom Acker

Mesa County Commissioner, District 3: JJ Fletcher is running unopposed.

Judicial Retention Questions (Yes or No):

Colorado Supreme Court Justices:

Maria E. Berkenkotter: YES, retain

Justice Brian D. Boatright: YES, retain

Justice Monica M. Marquéz: YES, retain

Colorado Court of Appeals Judges:

Stephanie Dunn: YES, retain

Jerry N. Jones: NO, do not retain

W. Eric Kuhn: YES, retain

Gilbert M. Román: YES retain

Timothy J. Schultz: YES, retain

Mesa County Court Judge:

Michael J. Grattan: Yes, retain

State Ballot Measures:

Constitutional Amendments:

Amendment G: Property tax exemptions for veterans: YES

Amendment H: Changing judicial discipline procedures to provide the public with more transparency: YES

Amendment I: Restores the ability of judges to withhold bail for people arrested on first degree murder charges if the proof is evident or the presumption is great that they committed the crime. An excellent explainer of the measure can be found here on the Colorado Sun.  Despite the fact that it affects one’s ability to get bail when charged with a serious crime, the ACLU is not opposing the amendment. Recommended vote: YES

Amendment J: Amends the state constitution to remove the ban on same-sex marriage: YES

Amendment K: Moves up the deadline by 1 week for citizens to submit signatures for initiative petitions, and moves up the deadline for judges to get their declaration forms in to run for another term, also by 1 week, to give County Clerks more time to put ballots together: YES

 

Former President Donald Trump bragged about his role in ending federal abortion protections in 2023, removing a long fought-for right American women had for over 50 years and putting the lives of women across the country at risk

Amendment 79: A Constitutional Right to Abortion: Enshrines the right to abortion in the state Constitution, prevents state and local governments from impeding or denying that right and assures abortion is a covered service under state and local government health insurance plans: YES

Amendment 80: Right to School Choice: NO

Propositions (statutory measures):

Proposition JJ: Allows the state to keep extra tax revenue from sports betting over and above the voter-approved limit of $29 million to spend on water conservation and protection projects around the state instead of refunding it to casinos?: YES

Proposition KK: Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax: YES

Proposition 127: Prohibition on Hunting of Mountain Lions, Lynx and Bobcats: YES

Proposition 128: The Parole Eligibility Initiative: NO

Proposition 129: Establishing a New Field of Veterinary Professional Associates: YES

Proposition 130: One-time extra payment of $350 million to law enforcement. (No funding mechanism is included in the measure, so the funds would  be taken from other parts of the state’s budget.): NO

Proposition 131: Top-Four Primary and Ranked Choice Voting: YES

County Ballot Measures:

Mesa County Ballot Issue 1A: Proposed 29 Road Interchange at I-70: NO

Mesa County Ballot Issue 1B: Tabor override of $11.5 million, which would allow the County to keep the money and use it to maintain, repair and improve roads and bridges, which means you won’t get refunded the money you would normally get under Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) law: YES

Mesa County Ballot Issue 4A: Let School District 51 take out a $190 million bond to renovate, add to and repair existing school buildings, without raising taxes?: YES

Mesa County Ballot Issue 4B: Lets School District 51 extend the current mill levy override to keep a tax that’s already in place that was approved in 2017, and keep the $6.5 million it generates yearly to keep funding additional student instruction days, updated instructional materials, teacher training and high priority maintenance to extend the life of its buildings: YES

 

 

 

 

 

  11 comments for “Voter Guide for the Mesa County Ballot for the Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 election

  1. Thank you, Anne. I appreciate all your research and advice.

    One comment: my husband and I were sued by a rogue builder in 2014, who was represented by Michael J.Grattan. I will never forget Grattan coming into our lawyer’s office and promising us we could all meet without getting violent, yet he had his fists up. He struck me as a a scumbag low class thug of a lawyer and it turned out that he was. I was shocked when he became a judge.

  2. Great work, 29 road is money for developers. I drove from downtown to Collbran for 35 years to work at the Job. Corps on Mondays. I never needed more than the clifton or Horizon drive exits.

  3. The only times I disagree with Anne…
    When it comes to Tabor- ALWAYS return gouged taxes back to tax payers.
    ANYTIME a government entity took more $$ than they were allowed, they should NEVER be allowed to keep it. No matter what pretty pictures they drew… Take away their crayons.
    ✌️

    • uhhh…Allowed? That’s a pretty broad brush dare say a fingerpainting picture you’re promoting, never mind the whole “crayons” claim. I certainly hope you don’t feel entitled to draw Social Security or Medicaid since apparently see the world as a binary game of give-and-take or just “got yours” already so damn the rest.

  4. It’s too bad we can’t vote out Tammy Eret as municipal judge (currently also MCVSD51 general counsel) given the ACLU/Colorado Freedom Fund investigation.

    • Sam
      you are speaking without knowing all of the facts
      the article about the ACLU & Municipal Court left significant portions
      of the proceedings out
      if you listen to the entire proceeding you will note that judge Eret repeatedly advised
      the people about their right to counsel
      I take issue with the story about the young man with a 79 IQ
      he had lawyers on two of his three cases and in those cases he chose to plead guilty
      his lawyers knew that he was facing one year or greater by pleading guilty

      • Easy there, Matlock. I take issue with your egregious lack of punctuation and rambling run-on sentence structure…so let’s not pretend you have any legal high ground here nor authority to litigate someones person opinion on a blog.

  5. Thank you for this Anne.

    It’s too bad we can’t vote Tammy Eret out as municipal judge (currently also the MCVSD51 general counsel) especially in light of the ACLU/Colorado Freedom Fund investigation.

    • Thank you so much. There are only a couple of the ballot measures I disagree with, but overall this was a lifesaver for me this year. I normally take the time to research it all myself but am really overwhelmed right now.

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