Ballots are in

Mesa County Elections staff are encouraging voters to vote early and research often before filling out the county’s longest ballot ever.

The general election ballot for 2008 includes 10 candidate races; 18 statewide questions and a plethora of county, district and political subdivision questions.

“Expect the November Election Ballot to take some time, not only to review, but also to vote,” Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Janice Rich said in a press release.

“We are anticipating an historic turnout for this election, and lines on election day could be longer than usual.

“We want to remind voters that there are options to consider when preparing to vote.”

Those options include early voting at the polls Oct. 20-31, election day voting on Nov. 4 and voting by mail. To vote by mail, pick up a ballot request form at the Mesa County Elections office or any DMV office or download it from vote.mesacounty.us, and it will be sent on or after Oct. 6.

Mesa County has 25 places to vote on Election Day, but only five of those places will be available for early voting: the Old Mesa County Courthouse, Mesa Mall, Fruita Police Department, Mesa County Fairgrounds and Clifton Community Hall.

Each center is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. except for Mesa Mall, which will remain open until 7 p.m. during early voting.

National candidate contests on the ballot include those for president (Democrat Barack Obama, Republican John McCain and 14 others), senator (Republican Bob Schaffer and Democrat Mark Udall) and house representative in the third congressional district (Democrat John Salazar and Republican Wayne Wolf).

State races include those for state board of education (Republican Marcia Neal and Democrat Jill Brake) and state representative in house districts 54 (Republican Steve King) and 55 (Democrat Bernie Buescher and Republican Laura Bradford).

In Mesa County, candidates will run for district attorney (Republican Pete Hautzinger), District 1 Mesa County commissioner (Republican Craig Meis and Democrat Dan Robinson), District 3 Mesa County commissioner (Republican Janet Rowland and Democrat Dickie Lewis) and 13 judges will be up for retention.

Local ballot questions will ask if:

• The county commission should expand from three to five members (1A) and how (1B).

• The city of Grand Junction should increase sales tax by a quarter of a cent to pay for public safety buildings (2A) until Riverside Parkway debt is paid and a TABOR override can take over (2B).

• The city of Fruita should have a one cent sales and use tax increase to pay for a community center (2C).

• Mesa County Valley School District 51 should increase property taxes to pay off $185 million in bonds to build schools (3A) and override TABOR to pay to operate those schools (3B) and if Delta County Joint School District 50 can issue $49 million in bonds for school upgrades (3C).

Also on the local list are questions on the Clifton Fire District (5A), Fruitvale Water and Sanitation District (5B), Battlement Mesa Water and Sanitation (5C), Panorama Public Improvement District (5D) and Whitewater Urban Services Public Improvement District (5E and 5F).

Statewide, voters will be asked if:

• The Colorado constitution should be amended to end affirmative action in government hiring practices (Amendment 46).

• People should be prohibited from making an employee join or pay dues to a labor union (Amendment 47).

• A person should be defined as a person at the time an ovum is fertilized (Amendment 48).

• There should be a limit on automatic public employee paycheck deductions (Amendment 49).

• Central City, Black Hawk and Cripple Creek residents should be allowed to vote on casino hours, bet limits and new games and give the majority of gaming taxes to community colleges (Amendment 50).

• The state should incrementally raise state sales tax in the next two years and use the money for developmentally disabled services (Amendment 51).

• There should be a cap on department of natural resources funding, providing for inflation, and use the severance tax money above that cap for transportation (Amendment 52).

There are more amendments, including Amendment 53 to make chief executive officers criminally liable for any illegal operations by their business, Amendment 54 about setting limits on campaign contribution actions by certain government contractors, Amendment 55 to make private employers give a reason for suspending or firing employees, Amendment 56 requiring private employers with more than 20 workers to offer health care, Amendment 57 requiring employers to offer a safe work environment, Amendment 58 to pay for renewable energy, college scholarship and preservation funds by eliminating a tax credit that allows oil and gas producers to take a slice off their state taxes after paying local taxes, and Amendment 59, which would fill a state Pre-K-12 education rainy day fund with TABOR override dollars and eliminate P-12 spending requirements.

Referenda include L, which would lower the age qualification to become a Colorado state legislator from 25 to 21, M and N, which would cut no-longer-applicable liquor and land value increase provisions from the constitution, and O, which would make it easier for citizens to propose ballot initiatives but harder for anyone to amend the Constitution.