EDITORIAL: Here are Your ‘Daily Post’ Ballot Recommendations, Free of Charge

I got a phone message from a local voter, asking if I could provide advice on how to mark her ballot.

Judging by other conversations I’ve had with local voters, I think I need to publish my free advice once, and for all.  It’s a confusing ballot this year.  The petition-signature-gatherers were inordinately busy this past year, and there are entirely too many proposed amendments and propositions on the ballot.

Here’s the simplified version of my free advice.  Just vote “NO” on every single amendment and proposition. When you vote “NO” you are essentially saying “I’m going to leave these complicated and complex decisions up to my elected representatives because I don’t have all the information I need to make the correct decisions.”

But that’s a shotgun approach to voting.

If you want to get the most complete and balanced advice, refer to your 126-page 2026 State Ballot Information Booklet “Blue Book”.  (Additional copies are available at the Ruby Sisson Library.)

But if you want quick, free advice from the Daily Post (because you don’t feel like reading the entire “Blue Book”) here it is:

Amendment 81, Law Enforcement Communication with Federal Immigration Authorities:
The federal government’s immigration enforcement policy is out of control and is filling ‘detention centers’ with people who have no criminal record, instead of conducting the legally required process of determining whether these human beings qualify for asylum protections under federal law.  The Colorado legislature has prohibited state and local law enforcement from cooperating with illegal and harmful federal processes. Vote No.

Amendment 82, Constitutional Right to Purchase and Sell Natural Gas:
This is basically a constitutional amendment to protect gas industry profits, and remove the state’s ability to control pollution. Vote No.

Amendment 83, Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish:
The right to hunt and fish is already in the Colorado constitution, but this amendment is so vague that it could conceivably generate a new lawsuit every time Colorado Parks and Wildlife issues hunting or fishing regulations. Vote No.

Amendment 84, Mail Ballot Voter Identification:
This constitutional amendment would force voters to include personal information on the outside of their mail ballots, visible to anyone who handles the ballot. The current ‘signature only’ system already works. Vote No.

Amendment 85, Plain Language Ballot Titles:
This proposed amendment would force ballot measures to be written in “eight-grade reading level” language, and would thus often prohibit the most articulate and clear version of a ballot measure to be presented. Vote No.

Amendment 86, Requirements for Off-Cycle Congressional Redistricting:
This proposed amendment would prevent the Governor and Legislature from making changes to Congressional Districts without approval of the independent Congressional Redistricting Commission. Vote Yes.

Amendment 87, Graduated State Income Tax:
This proposed amendment would increase state revenue while reducing state income taxes for low-income households and middle-income households, by increasing the tax rates for households earning over $1 million a year. The additional taxes would be used only for K-12 education, health care, and early childhood education. Vote Yes.

Proposition NN, Keep and Speings Money for Education and Other Purposes: 
This proposition overrides the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) and eliminates certain limits on government spending. Colorado voters have fairly consistently upheld TABOR as a valuable control on government spending. Vote No.

Proposition 132, Increasing Penalties for Fentanyl Crimes: 
This proposition greatly increases the penalties for possession and distribution of fentanyl in any amount. But fentanyl is often added in small amounts to other, less harmful drugs, without the user knowing about the inclusion. Proposition 132 removes the ability of the courts to adjust penalties depending on the severity of the crime. Vote No.

Proposition 133, Penalties for Human Trafficking of a Minor: 
This proposition greatly increases the penalties for sex trafficking activities to life in prison without parole. But children and minors who come under the control of traffickers are sometimes forced to participate in posting ads and recruiting new victims, under threat of violence.  Under Proposition 133, such children and minors could be sentenced to life in prison for actions they were forced to take, or that they undertook without knowing the full consequences of.  Vote No.

Proposition 134, Male and Female Participation in School Sports:
This proposition creates all kinds of new (and unnecessary) bureaucratic regulations around school sports. School are already required to abide by state and federal regulations that control school sports. Vote No.

Proposition 135, Prohibit Surgery on Minors in Response to Perception of Sex or Gender:
This proposition removes the ability of parents to make decisions about a child’s mental and physical health. Vote No.

Proposition 136, Income Tax Rate Limit:
This proposition limits the state income rate to 4.4 percent. The income tax rate is already 4.4 percent, and it can’t be increased without voter approval. This proposition is downright stupid. Vote No.

Proposition 137, Direct Sporting Goods Sales Tax Revenue to Conservation:
This proposition will decrease required TABOR refunds, while directing certain amounts into parks and wildlife services.  This probably means the state will divert existing funding away from parks and wildlife service, into other departments, and end up keeping the TABOR refunds that currently discourage the growth of government. Vote No.

Local Archuleta County issues:

Archuleta County Ballot Issue 1A, Increase to County Lodging Tax:
This tax measure will increase the Lodging Tax paid by visitors from 2% to 6%, with the additional revenues to be used for road maintenance (80%) childcare for the local workforce (10%) and public safety and emergency dispatch. Vote Yes. 

Archuleta School District Ballot Issue 5A, Increased Property Taxes to Help Fund a New PreK-8 Facility:
This tax measure will cost property owners up to $6.7 million per year in new taxes for up to 25 years to build some type of facility on School District property on Vista Boulvard, at the west end of town, and allow three existing school buildings to be abandoned. Our community homeowners and businesses cannot afford this level of government debt, when our existing buildings are still reasonably serviceable. Vote No. 

Upper San Juan Health Service District Ballot Issue 7B, Increase to County Lodging Tax:
Without raising tax rates, this measure allows USJHSD to continue retaining tax revenues to support the Pagosa Springs Medical Center and EMS ambulance service. Vote Yes. 

As stated, these are quick and dirty recommendations. More complete information is available in the Colorado “Blue Book” and in the statement mailed to households by the County Clerk and Recorder, more fully describing local issues 1A, 5A and 7B.