Op Ed: Low Voter Turnout Yields Disappointing Results in Denver Election

Election officials estimate that last week’s election saw just around 38% of active Denver voters cast their ballots. Denver Elections Division reported it counted about 175,000 ballots, which underpreforms the 2019 municipal election. As reported by 5280, “64% of voters aged 65 and older participated in the election.” Meanwhile, voters aged 25-34 represented just 27%.

So what happened? With a crowded mayoral election that provided plenty of drama around campaign ads and televised debates, one would think Denver voters would rush to have their voices heard. There could be several reasons for low voter turnout, and unfortunately, media coverage of the election could be one.

This year’s mayoral election contained a total of 17 running candidates. That’s 17 unique perspectives and campaigns voters would need to familiarize themselves with in order to make an informed choice. Factor in also that all but one are registered Democrats, and it becomes clearer how some voters may have not cast their ballots. The fact is, some if not most Denver voters could not take the time necessary to research a slew of candidates and ballot measures.

While some, like the Colorado Sun‘s Trish Zornio, slammed Denver voters for their “embarrassing” and “shameful” voter turnout, personally, I’d like to see reporters like myself take a little more responsibility. All coverage of the 2023 Mayoral election, including my own, guaranteed a run-off election. Now, with 17 candidates vying for the office of mayor, it was extremely likely and did indeed happen. But to the average voter, faced with hours of reading and researching, a run-off presents an opportunity to push off voting.

Perhaps news coverage of local and municipal elections in the future needs to focus on the importance of showing up. As election expert Alton Dillard said on 9News, “People fought and died for the right to vote, and so you want to see people participating.” What were left with is a run-off election between two candidates who only got a small fraction of Denver’s vote in the first place.

So, in an election dominated by voters 65 and up, what were the results? Firstly, mayoral candidates Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough received enough votes each to make it into the run-off election in June. Even in smaller local elections, money seems to be the driving force behind securing enough voters. Both Johnston and Brough raised more money than their opponents, a whopping $1 million more than the other 15 candidates combined.

Both Johnston and Brough, though Democrats, could be considered more moderate than the working class and anti-establishment candidates opposing them. Former State Senator Mike Johnston and former Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce Head Kelly Brough held similar ideas on one of the election’s most hotly debated topics; the city’s unhoused population. When asked questions regarding encampment sweeps during one of the televised debates, Johnston replied that he would back city sweeps of encampments, but stopped short of endorsing detainment.

Brough, however, had more of a hardline approach: “As mayor, you still have an obligation to keep everybody safe. So if somebody can’t make that choice for themselves based on mental health or addiction issues, I still think we have an obligation as a government to make it for them,” Brough said during a debate.

But, as advocacy organizations and other mayoral candidates pointed out, incarceration is not a solution to homelessness. One solution, which Denver voters turned down, is to build more affordable housing. Sixty percent of Denver voters, however, chose to keep a 155-acre golf course located in Park Hill just that.

Question 20 on Denver’s ballots asked voters whether or not they wanted a zoning ordinance lifted on the massive Park Hill golf course. Lifting the zoning ordinance would allow the Westside Investment developers who own the land to consider using the space for something besides golf. Proposed plans included an open park, community grocery store, and affordable housing.

Harry Doby, treasurer of the No on 20 campaign, said he felt relief and joy, but that the work is not done. “We need to work together, the community and the city, the mayor, and City Council on a sensible future for this land. The community needs all the things that Westside was promising. Absolutely. We agree. It’s just that they always were focused on the wrong location. The land literally across the street is available and in some places started development. So it’s always been obvious to us, at least, that as development happens next door, across the street, we need more green space, because with more families coming in, the park system is already overtaxed.”

However, the park system is set to remain overtaxed, as Westside has begun entertaining the idea of contracting with Top Golf, a late-night golf-themed entertainment complex, as Doby’s campaign successfully kept the space zoned as a golf course.

“The Park Hill Golf Course will forever be a case study in missed opportunities,” said campaign spokesperson Rigler, in favor of lifting the ordinance. “With historically low turnout, Denver has rejected its single best opportunity to build new affordable housing and create new public parks. Thousands of Denverites who urgently need more affordable housing are now at even greater risk of displacement.”

Plans promised by landowner Westside Investors included between 2,500 and 3,100 units of housing, 25% of which would be preserved as income-restricted for 99 years. Brothers Redevelopment and Habitat for Humanity also had plans for projects on the site. There would have been room for retail and land reserved for 10 years for a grocery store—should one decide to come to the neighborhood. There would also be community spaces and land donated plus funding for Denver’s fourth-largest park. At least 1,000 trees would have been planted on the site and there would have been pollinator gardens brought in—part of a collaboration with the Butterfly Pavilion.

However, now Park Hill residents can look forward to a regulation 18-hole course while their unhoused neighbors have their belongings thrown into dump trucks by city workers and are potentially arrested by Denver’s next mayor.