"No! No Mail ballots!"
Our Colorado mail ballots arrived Saturday October 12th and now we can't wait to stick it to Traitor and Fascist Degenerate Trump. We intend them to be part of the grand tsunami (landslide) that will wash Trump and his MAGA cult into the dustbin of history on November 5th.
But first things first. The mail ballot is two pages long and lists 25-odd items to vote for (or against), divided into sections. The first thing I did is survey the ballot item by item, looking at each choice available. Somewhat like looking over a physics or math exam before commencing.
Then I selected Amendment 79 first. Passage (requiring 55% majority) would amend the state constitution. Besides enshrining the state’s existing wide-ranging abortion protections in that document, the measure would repeal language from 1984 that prohibits the use of state and local government funding toward abortion services. Doing so would allow the state to greenlight abortion coverage for Medicaid enrollees and public employees on government health insurance plans.
Abortion has ranked among the top five most important issues identified by voters participating in The Denver Post’s ongoing Voter Voices survey, carried out in partnership with other media outlets through the Colorado News Collaborative.
Other key amendments that stood out:
Amendment 80: Constitutional Right to School Choice: Obvious 'No' vote for me, so that it preserves the current system under state law. A 'Yes' would have created a choice 'free for all' with parents able - under state constitution - to send kids anywhere: private schools, public, home school, charter etc. A recipe for destruction of the public school system.
Amendment JJ: Retains Additional Sports Betting Revenue: Allows the state to keep and spend more money for water projects when the sports betting tax revenue is collected above the amount previously approved by voters. Hey, what can I say? I'm a "tax and spend" liberal!
Amendment KK: Firearms and Ammunition Tax: A 'Yes' creates a new tax on firearms, firearm parts and ammunition. The added money can then be used for more crime victim services and mental health services for vets and youth. A 'No' vote would mean the state's level of taxation for firearms doesn't change. Guess which choice I made.
Amendment 127: Prohibits Bobcat, Lynx and Mountain Lion Trophy Hunting. A 'Yes' makes it illegal to hunt these cats in Colorado. I already wrote about this and the reasons for my choice in a previous blog post (Colorado Initiative 91 appears in ballot as Amendment 127):
Colorado Initiative 91 (Which We're Voting For) Gives A New Lease On Life To Mountain Lions
Proposition G: Modifies the Property Tax Exemption for Veterans with Disabilities. Sounds reasonable and what a tax and spend lib like me would like. However, A 'Yes' would make property taxes even more complicated than they are and harder to administer fairly. This is given it hinges on what the definition of "unemployable" is. So I opted to vote 'No' meaning the provisions for the existing homestead exemption remain in place.
Proposition J: Repealing the Definition of Marriage in the Constitution. The 'Yes' vote here redefines the meaning of a valid marriage (in the state constitution) to put it in conformance with the Supreme Court decision that legalized same sex unions.
The sole local (El Paso County) proposition (2C), enables a taxpayer, bond-subsidized continuation of road repairs and other services. Since we don't want the county to become like another Mississippi this was a no brainer.
Sadly, the WSJ Editors yesterday ('The Mail Ballot Panic Is Back for 2024', p. A16) continued their nonsense about mail ballots not being a genuine exercise of voting rights, babbling:
"Absentee voting is a necessity for those who are ill or truly absent, but there's a reason that casting a ballot in person is the traditional way. At the polling place, the order of operations is to validate and then vote. With mail ballots the procedure is reversed, vote then validate. Inevitably some are thrown out."
Which isn't quite true, given actual "voting" is not accomplished until and unless the vote is actually counted. Here in Colorado, as well as most other mail ballot states, that count isn't done until the signature is validated. There are also situations which can reasonably justify "curing" a ballot.
Episodic errors or oversights are included here, i.e. forgetting to sign one's ballot, signing too quickly and ending up with a distorted signature, forgetting to insert the date, forgetting to insert the ballot proper into the main envelope etc. All of which can be "cured" by contacting the voter and having him fix the ballot in person. Further, all such ballots are subjected to adjudication by a pair of trained judges - one Republican, one Democrat.
The real reason the WSJ Editors detest mail voting? Because it is done predominantly by Democratic voters. In 2020, Joe Biden won 76.3% of mail ballots. Trump took 65.1% of same day voting ballots, according to the editors. All I can say here is you do not kill an effective and efficient voting modality because one party chooses not to use it as much. You try to educate those voters it is the best voting method all things being considered.
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