04 May 2015

Tomorrow Is The Last Day To Vote In Denver's Municipal Elections

All ballots must be received tomorrow, May 5, 2015 by 7 p.m. to count in the first round of Denver's municipal election.  It is too late to count on a ballot dropped in the mail reaching its destination on time, but there are many dropoff locations around the city.  There is no "in person" voting in this year's Denver municipal election.

There are no ballot issues in this year's election.

* Incumbent Mayor Michael Hancock is opposed only by three nuisance candidates who have raised no money and not mounted serious campaigns who appear on the ballot, and three write-in candidates.

* Incumbent Clerk and Recorder Debra Johnson faces opposition from Joan Poston, a microbiologist who hopes to bring her technical savvy to the position.  Johnson is the front runner in the race.

* The city auditor's race pits former state auditor Timothy O'Brien against term limited City Councilman Chris Nevitt.  Nevitt is the front runner in the race and has raised about $293,000 v. about $41,000 for O'Brien in campaign contributions.

* A field of five candidates are pursuing two City Council at large seats which will go to the the top two vote getters.  The incumbents are Robin Kneich and Debbie Ortega.  There are three challengers: Kayvan Kalatbari, a pizza and marijuana businessman, is the only challenger that has raised significant campaign funds (although less than the two incumbents).  Jose Silva is running with a particular focus on police conduct reforms.  Jeffery Washington, an African-American Republican, is running on a fiscal responsibility platform.  Neither Silva nor Washington have raised even $5,000 in campaign contributions.

The real drama in this race will be to see if Kayvan Kalabari unseats either of the incumbents.

There is no realistic chance that any of the five offices above (Mayor, Clerk and Recorder, Auditor and City Council at Large) will be filled in runoff elections.

* There are eleven single member city council district races.  To win in the first round, a candidate must receive a majority of the voters cast in the race; otherwise the top two candidates face off in a runoff election in June.  There could be as many as six runoff elections in June, if no candidate in races with three or more candidates secured a majority in the first round.  The other five city council district races will definitely be resolved in the first round.

In Council District 1, Espinoza faces Shepard and the two candidate race means that one of them will win in the first round.  Espinoza has raised about $35,000.  Shepard has raised almost $99,000.

In Council District 2, five candidates on the ballot and a write in candidate are seeking the office.

In Council District 3, Paul Lopez faces only a write-in candidate and is a shoe in to win.

In Council District 4, three candidates are on the ballot.

In Council District 5, Mary Beth Susman is unopposed.

In Council District 6, Kashman and Adams are facing off for the open seat in a close race including the Washington Park neighborhood.  Adams, a former state legislator leads in fundraising, although both have raised substantial amounts of campaign cash, but Kashman has his history of former owner and editor of the Washington Park Profile newspaper which has covered municipal issues for decades.  This race will be decided in the first round.

In Council District 7, there are nine candidates seeking the open seat left by Chris Nevitt who stepped down because he was term limited.  Anne McGihon, former state house representative for a substantial part of the district, is the strong front runner based on in house polling, despite being only on a par in fundraising with several of the stronger competing candidates.

In Council District 8, Christopher Herndon is unopposed.

In Council District 9, three candidates are on the ballot.

In Council District 10, five candidates are on the ballot.

In Council District 11, five candidates are on the ballot.

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