Ideas percolating among Aurora councilmembers would shake up the way council elections are run, but debate swiftly brewed about whether the public would be on board.

Ward IV Councilmember Juan Marcano is spearheading proposals to switch council elections from off-years to even-years so that they coincide with state and federal elections. He also wants council races to become partisan.

Marcano’s pitch is that moving elections will drive up participation, which he describes as “pitiful” in city elections to date, and ensure election results represent a majority of the city’s electorate. He also called nonpartisan races “a beautiful dream” but unrealistic, and said conducting partisan races would be more honest with voters.

Marcano raised the ideas during the Charter Review Ad Hoc Committee meeting on Aug. 2, where both were shot down by conservative committee member. Marcano can still take his proposal to the full council, and he said he plans to do that next year but wants to hold public hearings first.

Any changes to the charter would need voter approval. When asked if city staff could provide cost estimates for conducting elections in even-years, a city spokesman said the committee is set to discuss the topic again at its Aug. 23 meeting.

Most agree —participation in city elections has historically been low. Nearly 31% of registered voters participated in the 2021 city election.

Marcano provided the charter committee with several studies about other communities that switched their elections to even-years, noting Los Angeles saw a dramatic 400% increase in participation by doing so. At-Large Councilmember Angela Lawson was skeptical of comparing Aurora and L.A., saying they are starkly different communities.

Locally, Castle Rock and Parker both run their municipal elections in even years and see higher turnout, Marcano said. It’s not just a local issue, Marcano told The Denver Gazette. A recent decline in participation among federal elections signaled to him that people “are losing faith in in our democracy.”

What happens at city hall affects people’s daily lives more than D.C. does, Marcano said, calling the local level a logical place to start improving people’s engagement in elections.

“I think that that will have a trickle up effect in terms of faith of our institutions,” Marcano said.

Marcano said making races partisan will also increase participation. Finding quality information on local candidates can be difficult and many candidates “run on platitudes,” he said. Providing someone’s party affiliation is a quick indicator to voters about a candidate’s ideals, he said.

Marcano called council’s current dynamic “extremely partisan.” Nonpartisan races are “wishful thinking,” Marcano said, and not realistic in his eyes.

“It actually just basically hides the party influence from the general election because those forces are still at play,” Marcano said.

Long-term, Marcano envisions the city implementing partisan council elections and also rank-choice voting, which he said could open the door to third parties, city-specific parties and make Aurora “a laboratory of democracy.”

“Even though I am a registered Democrat, I want to see real competition,” Marcano said.

Swift criticism

Mayor Pro Tempore Francoise Bergan immediately said she would not support the proposal. Bergan questioned whether council races would get overshadowed by state and federal contests and buried on lengthy ballots.

“There is so much on those even-year ballots, like it’s crazy,” Bergan said.

The mayor pro tempore also made comments that Marcano called offensive, saying she did not think voters would make well-researched or informed decisions if the elections moved to even years.

“I don’t think it’s going to be thoughtful participation,” Bergan said.

Bergan also said she completely disagrees with characterizing the council elections as partisan, saying she was more encouraged to run because the elections were nonpartisan and that she “had no interest in being in politics, ever in my life.” She did not encounter voters asking her about her affiliation during her candidacy, she said, although Marcano said he was asked often.

Lawson said during committee talks that she thought changing the election year would overwhelm voters. Lawson also said the proposals could worsen partisanship by leading voters to vote for a candidate solely because of their affiliation.

“This is a strategy from party line, basically,” Lawson said.

Lawson was against making council races partisan, saying some people’s employers prohibit them from running in partisan elections and they would become excluded from running for local public office. Nonpartisan races make local elections unique, she said.

“I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat, what are you going to do for the city,” Lawson said.

Although Lawson said she opposed partisan races, she was interested to see how the public would respond to the idea, she said.

Politico insight

Vice President of Academic Success at Community College of Aurora Bobby Pace, who taught political science at Virginia Tech and the University of Colorado Boulder prior to joining CCA, said it’s “absolutely right” that turnout in local municipal elections is typically low.

Some communities have shifted local elections to November in even years, and saw greater turnout. Pace used the Olympics as an analogy, where buzz around the events can be greater when they are every four years instead of every two.

“Having the election cycles spread out over a longer array of dates tends to place folks who are not as politically active at a disadvantage — in terms of remembering to vote, actually voting, and some people can say and typically do argue that there is a relevance that is hyped when voting isn’t as often,” Pace said.

There’s also an argument that perpetual election cycles increase partisanship throughout the country, Pace said, because “it’s always making the next election right around the corner.”

Moving local elections to November could sway voters only interested in local issues to go ahead and vote in state and federal elections, Pace said.

“Very few of us recognize the power and the impact that those local municipal elections really have on our daily lives, and there are voters who are genuinely more interested in the local than the national because the national feels like it’s out of their realm of control,” Pace said.

In diverse cities like Aurora, there can often be a misconception that increasing voter turnout will lead to more progressive or liberal wins, he said. The 2020 election “really demonstrated the fact that we should not treat diverse populations as monolithic political populations,” Pace said.

“Aurora is one of the, if not the most diverse city in the state of Colorado,” Pace said, “and yet it is historically a Republican or conservative held city in terms of government structure.”

Pace said even in nonpartisan races, voters will understand a candidate’s affiliation, often expressed through political codewords. Saying they are “pro-family” can indicate a candidate is anti-LGBTQ, Pace said as an example.

“I think that the myth that folks don’t understand the partisan position of individual candidates is somewhat, I mean that’s hogwash,” Pace said.

Arapahoe County Democrats could not be reached for comment. The chair of Arapahoe County Republicans Suzanne Staiert doubted voters would support making council races partisan contests, particularly as people tire of a hyper-partisan national climate.

“Especially in a state where so many people are unaffiliated, I’m not sure they want to see more partisanship,” she said.

Partisan races make it difficult for third party and unaffiliated candidates to break through, she said, boxing out some candidates. Marcano’s proposal is also moving in the opposite direction of a push among some to make state offices like attorney general or secretary of state nonpartisan, she said.

Staiert said increasing partisanship on local bodies such as school boards has “been a bad thing for Colorado.”

“I think we already have too much partisanship,” Staiert said.