Election Day is less than a week away. For many of our Seniors, next Tuesday will mark a major milestone: voting in their first election. And for students who turn 18 during a presidential election year, the first time is even more exciting.

 

As I sat down with my own son who turned 18 this past week, I was delighted to see he was taking this responsibility very seriously, and we had a good discussion on many of the pressing issues of the day. He even researched the judges whose names were on the ballot. In Colorado the voters are asked to vote yes or no on whether to retain state Supreme Court justices, Courts of Appeals judges, as well as district and county court judges. That often leads to a lot of names on the ballot. (By the way this website is helpful if you wish to do research: https://denverite.com/2020/10/08/denvers-2020-ballot-how-to-pick-all-those-judges/)

My son’s CA education has helped prepare him to be civic-minded and to take his rights as a voter seriously.

 

One Senior who is also voting for the first time noted, “It feels like there’s been such a long build-up to this election, and now it’s finally here. I tried to focus on what I thought was important for the future and then study up on the issues I didn’t know as much about.” Another said that voting “filled me with a renewed sense of civic duty! I spent a lot of time researching the propositions and Amendments and was sure I was confident in what I was choosing. It really felt like I was an adult and I loved being able to participate in conversations with my parents and peers about what was on the ballot.”

 

That point about the propositions and amendments speaks to one of the major learning opportunities for all voters in this election. Because of the plethora of ballot measures, both on the statewide level and those that apply to the City and County of Denver, there are multiple issues that will shape our lives more directly on a local level. I don’t recall ever seeing quite so many amendments and referenda in the past, and many of the ones this year tackle some weighty topics. Among them, voters have decisions to make on taxes, abortion, a national popular vote, linking citizenship to voting rights, paid medical and family leave, and even the reintroduction of grey wolves. In Denver there are initiatives that would raise money for schools and rescind the ban on pit bulls.

 

In light of this, we will be doing an assembly on ballot measures next Tuesday. A few teachers and students will present on some of these topics and will give an overview of how and why these sorts of initiatives make it to the ballot in the first place.

 

Voting is one of the great privileges of living in a democracy, and I hope all our first-time voters appreciate this. Look for more discussions in the days and weeks ahead.