December 12, 2011 09:49 PM UTC

Historic Wheat Ridge Runoff Election Concludes Tomorrow

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• by: Colorado Pols

Maureen Keller might just be the luckiest person in Wheat Ridge City politics.

Keller garnered nearly 33% of the vote in her campaign for city clerk last month, ultimately losing the election to former City Councilwoman Janelle Shaver.

Yet because of an archaic provision in the Wheat Ridge City Charter, Keller’s getting a second chance to take on Shaver, head to head, as ballots from the city’s all mail runoff election are tallied tomorrow.

Per Chapter III, Section 3.7 of the Wheat Ridge Code of Ordinances, “The city clerk shall be elected by a majority vote of the electors of the City of Wheat Ridge.” Because no single candidate in the four way race for clerk between Shaver, Keller, Leah Dozeman, and Lenny Ortiz garnered more than 50% of the vote, no city clerk was elected.

Shaver certainly won the most votes, but she didn’t win a majority as defined by the City of Wheat Ridge. And that’s why Maureen Keller might just be the luckiest politico in Wheat Ridge: she gets a do-over in a two way race.

But can Keller win? We think Shaver’s six year term on Council will certainly gives her an edge over Keller. Wheat Ridge is a small town, and Shaver’s been involved with city politics for a while. That matters.

Still, if Keller can successfully make the case to those who previously voted for either Dozeman or Ortiz, each of whom earned about 15% of the vote last November, the race (and clerkship) is hers.

Either way, this runoff election certainly raises some questions about the Wheat Ridge City Charter. Sitting City Clerk Michael Snow told the Wheat Ridge Transcript that tomorrow’s runoff election is “costing the city upward of $35,000.”

That’s over 30 grand of taxpayer money for an election that most voters probably don’t even know is happening. After all, this is the first runoff in Wheat Ridge’s history – nobody is expecting to get a second ballot in the mail over a month after they thought they were done with elections for a while.

Yet because there were four candidates in the running for clerk last November, this runoff election was all but inevitable. Snow said it best himself, “When you have three or more candidates in a single race, it is a challenge for any one candidate to garner more than 50% of the vote.”

If anything, the $35,000 bill footed by taxpayers for an election very few voters even realize is going on is testament to the fact that Wheat Ridge’s charter needs to be re-evaluated. This is the first run-off in the city’s election because normally, not that many people run for city clerk. As the law stands now, however, it’s all but guaranteed that the next time there are more than two people in a campaign, there’s going to be a costly runoff election.

In Wheat Ridge, then, you can have a competitive (and compelling) election for clerk so long as taxpayers fork over $35,000. Or you can have a tedious campaign between two milquetoast candidates. That just doesn’t make sense.