Boulder County is broken up into three districts. District 1 is basically the City of Boulder west of Hwy 36, Jamestown, Ward, and Nederland. District 2 is the part of Boulder east of Hwy 36, Louisville, Lafayette, Superior, and part of Erie. District 3 is Longmont, Niwot, Lyons, and points west. How the county is split up and the amount of districts is not the issue as much as how the county commissioners are elected.
Each commissioner resides in one of the three districts and no two commissioners can reside in the same district, meaning the commissioner for District 1 can live in District 3, and 3 can live in 2, and 2 can live in 1, or some other combination. So your representative can and may live in a different district, and not be as familiar with your districts issues as he should. That’s not representative government, and a loophole that should be closed.
In Longmont, the city is broken up into wards. The way it works is that, for instance, only the people who reside in Ward 2 can vote for Ward 2’s candidates. Those candidates must also reside in Ward 2. In addition, there are “at-large” seats, including the Mayor position, which everyone in the city can vote on, but at least you’re guaranteed a seat on the council that is meant just for your part of the neighborhood. But in Boulder County, everyone in the county votes for all three districts. People in Superior vote for who will represent Longmont, and vice-versa. The reality is that the residents in the City of Boulder select all three commissioners. And that’s exactly how they want it. Again, not representative government.
Boulder’s model doesn’t apply to State Senators or Representatives, or the U.S. House of Representatives. Those are broken down into districts and you only get to vote for your district candidate, not the next district over, or all of the districts. This scam is better than gerrymandering (a form of redistricting in which electoral districts or constituency boundaries are manipulated for an electoral advantage). Why bother with that when you can rig the system this way? Some fallout from this unfair setup is, according to a Times-Call editorial, a high-ranking county official changed his party affiliation to have a snowballs chance at a victory. “Hey, comrade, join the party if you want that spot.” To that I say “Nyet”!
Obviously, the easiest fix would be to allow voters to only select the commissioners in their own district, period. Those candidates should also reside in that district. You could even add a couple of “at large” commissioners that everyone could vote on who would represent the entire district. This was the idea behind the “Drive For Five” initiative a few years ago. Alas, that didn’t pass because voters in Boulder said so. Any other change would be nearly impossible to pass for the same reason. If we aren’t the “City and County of Boulder”, then the City voters shouldn’t be the final word for the rest of the county. In another article, a different approach: seceding from Boulder County.
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4 comments:
Has this ever been challenged in court? I know there have been court challenges to redistricting. Seems similar enough it could be challenged.
Wouldn't it be great fun to file a class action lawsuit against the County?
Since it really is the "City and County of Boulder", do we have to stop making fun of them, cuz we are one of them?
I am interested if anyone knows whether the BoCo Commissioner districts are ever redrawn, and by what criteria.
Personally, I'm not convinced the system of countywide voting could be characterized as a gerrymander. But even if it could, do the courts inspire all sorts of faith when they interfere with political functions, or, instead, when they step completely back and let the political branches duke it out? There was, for example, this famous case called Bush v. Gore... and more recent precedent in Colorado's redistricting case, for that matter.
On the practical side of things, when we got into this topic before, I shared my agreement that the current system is set up such that the City of Boulder (probably not entirely unintentionally) controls the outcome of the Commissioner elections and hence Countywide politics. It remains to be seen whether the East County, growing its population at a faster rate than the City of Boulder, will imprint its own distinct identity on the political picture in the County.
If new EastBoCo residents are mostly those who want to live in Boulder, but can't afford it, the "identity" won't change. (tongue firmly planted in cheek)
Unfortunately government does not evolve as quickly to mirror the representational demographics of the area as it should. I have never understood why it is considered sufficient to have 3 county commissioners when even the smallest towns within the county have councils with much larger representation. The county commissioners should be increased to at least five to provide better representation reflecting the growth in the county, particularly East BoCo.
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