The Haystack

The student news site of Wheat Ridge High School

The student news site of Wheat Ridge High School

The Haystack

The student news site of Wheat Ridge High School

The Haystack

Controversial Colorado: Results from the 2013 State Elections

By Daniela Santos

November 5 has passed, and though the United States did not need to choose a president, state general elections still had enough hot topics for the citizens of Colorado to decide on.

From possible secession to high taxes for schools, variety was visible and the results are in.

Northern Colorado has made headlines throughout 2013 with their discussions of seceding from the rest of the state. Eleven counties had to answer yes or no on whether or not to go along with creating a fifty-first state, the majority —six out of eleven— denied. A big misconception of the vote was that if counties voted yes then that was going to be the definite decision, but the reality is that even if the majority were in favor, Northern Colorado’s attempts would still have needed to go through other obstacles. These obstacles would be the approval from both the state legislature and then the approval of Congress.

Four cities, Fort Collins, Boulder, Broomfield and Lafayette, had to decide if they wanted to ban fracking. Fracking, otherwise known as hydraulic fracturing, is splitting or cracking a long narrow opening on subterranean rocks in order to extract oil. Three out of four agreed with the ban; Broomfield was the only one for hydraulic fracturing. The prospect of natural oil that fracking would generate did seem appealing to some, like 50% of Broomfield, but it was mainly the concerns with the action of fracking that made the bigger effect. These worries included: the effects on the air, disrupting noises, an increase in the level of dust and contaminated ground water.

It has been a year since Colorado was one of the two states to make history by approving the legal recreational use of marijuana. In this recent election, more progress was made in that direction when 65.2% of voters said yes on a 15% excise tax and 10% sales tax on all recreational marijuana sales. The Huffington Post claims that the taxes are expected to generate around $70 million dollars in additional revenue for Colorado in 2014. The income will then go towards a fund for public school construction.

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On the same subject of schools, Amendment 66 was the most famous election topic for 2013; it leveled up to the same hype that marijuana legalization had the previous year. Seen as a one-billion-dollar a year tax increase to in favor of schools, 65% of voting citizens chose to reject the tax leading to numerous mixed reactions. The controversial amendment claims to be a savior for schools by hiring new teachers, minimizing class sizes and restoring funding for transportation sports and music programs. Yet, some citizens argue that the amendment was too highly publicized —supporters paid $10 million on the media campaign— but still managed to give a lack of information. Mentioned on a story for The Denver Post, for every new tax dollar Jefferson county citizens pay, Jeffco schools would receive 56 cents in funding. This was information not found on the amendment’s website. Currently the National Education Association, otherwise known as the teachers union, cites Colorado as number twenty-six in school funding compared to the whole nation. The tax would have raised $950 million for schools; how the schools would benefit may remain a mystery.

Colorado has been faced by multiple difficult decisions, and this year the state was clear in their wants and how the state will move forward in the near future.

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