u/shakeeldalal

Boulder County Elections is hiring elections workers of all types for the November 2026 election. Count ballots, check people in when they get to a polling place, be an elections judge.

Help ensure Democracy operates in an efficient and trustworthy fashion. Get paid.

https://bouldercounty.gov/elections/information/election-positions/

Great article by London Lyle at the Times Call on the new podcast studio opening in October at Longmont Public Media.

I'm especially excited for the ease of use aspects which will tie together audio and video recording. With as hard as it is to get reliable news and information, I'm really excited about LPM serving as a basecamp for people who want to do the hard work of providing local information -- in a format that has kept up with the times.

For most issues going into a city council meeting, you can tell in advance that something is going to pass based on the discussion that's been had and understanding the beliefs and incentives of the council members. 

I'll tell you a secret: RCV was not one of those things.

In the weekend leading up to last night's meeting we knew that there was soft support for something, but convincing city council to trust the voters was a losing proposition. We only knew for sure that we could count on Mayor Susie Hidalgo-Fahring to champion it in the meeting.

The optimistic message from some council members was: "I don't really care about this, I'm not really for it, but if you can find 3 other votes I guess I'd vote for it."

Others were openly (or secretly) hostile for their own political reasons.

Last night's council meeting was PACKED because there were 5 completely independent big issues on the agenda, any of which on their own could've been a 3 hour meeting:

1. Ranked Choice Voting
2. Raising taxes to hire more police and fire
3. Buying the YMCA to finally get Longmont a 2nd rec center
4. Taking grants from the FAA to fund the airport
5. Giving money to help fund Cruise Night

YOU the supporters of RCV filled the room, holding signs and making your presence known, among a sea of issues with their own dedicated constituency many of whom were proud to talk about how they'd lived in the city for longer than most RCV supporters had even been alive. At the beginning of the night, I would guess there were about 50 people in the room supporting RCV.

YOUR support, YOUR public comment, YOUR emails, YOUR voice made the difference.

In the end, the public pressure and the show of commitment from ~25 people who were still there at 12:45 AM for RCV made it politically untenable for the holdouts to oppose. In the end, it passed 6-1 with Diane Crist voting against while citing election denying conspiracy theories.

THIS IS WHY I LOVE LOCAL POLITICS. Because THIS is where we, normal people who just want the world to be a better place, have the most power.

Next steps: Council will vote on the official ballot language on August 11th and August 18th. It'd be nice if a few people showed up, but honestly we'd rather have you volunteer once the campaign to pass the measure is official!!!

On this month's episode of Sidedish Longmont, we did a guide to voting in the 2026 primary election. I broke down why the only ballot that makes sense to return is the Democratic ballot if you're unaffiliated, what I look when I vote, and each of the contested races.

I also liked this one from the Boulder Valley Frequency.

What other good voter guides are out there?

TLDR: If Ranked Choice Voting an issue you care about and you can only come to 1 City Council meeting to support it this year, show up on July 14 at 6:30 pm. Holding a sign is great, speaking is better, and staying at the meeting until after Council discusses Ranked Choice Voting is the best. RSVP Here for updates and a reminder email.

Implementing Ranked Choice Voting for Longmont City Council elections is an opportunity for us to improve the effectiveness of state AND local government by ensuring that it is representative of the consensus of voters, not concentrated blocks.

Instead of having to pay attention to public opinion, “viability,” “spoilers” or any of the other chatter in an election you only have to ask yourself 1 question: What is the order I prefer these candidates in? The publicly auditable tabulation method takes in that information, and ensures that the person who wins the election is the person who is most representative of people’s preferences.

This style of voting is becoming more common throughout the United States (Cities of Boulder, Fort Collins, Cambridge MA [since 1941!], State of Alaska, New York City just to name a few!). It is not new, untested, or susceptible to party politics or backroom dealing to force candidates to drop out.

And in it’s proportional form, which Longmont City Council should also adopt for At-Large City Councilmembers, is considered the gold standard method for ensuring that the views of voters are represented in elected bodies.

By implementing both of these forms in Longmont, we have the opportunity to make change happen statewide. In 2024, a bill was signed into law requiring 12 cities in multiple counties across the state to implement RCV before it could become active at the state level. Longmont would be the 6th city and 5th county (Weld). This is one more step towards ending the pernicious impacts of gerrymandering on a state (and maybe someday national!) level.

WHEN: July 14, 2026 at 6:30 PM to speak, 7:00 PM to represent.

WHERE: Longmont Civic Center, 350 Kimbark Street

WHAT: Hold a sign at least, but speaking at public invited to be heard will allow you to make the case directly to City Council that fair voting methods matter.

HOW: RSVP Here for updates and a reminder email which will include suggestions for what you could say closer to the day.

TL;DR: Download (and share!) the Visible Government League's Field Guide to ALPRs to learn how to identify common ALPRs and upload them to DeFlock’s database of mass surveillance cameras. Come to St Vrain Cidery on 5/25 4-6 pm for the Visible Government League's Memorial Day Social and sign up to search the city for mass surveillance cameras.

Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) like Flock and Axon aren’t just being used by city governments. While the City of Longmont’s Flock cameras are down while they finalize the contract with Axon, there are still plenty of mass surveillance cameras distributed throughout the city. 

This map of Flock cameras in Longmont is made available by DeFlock.org. Why haven’t these cameras been taken down?

Because many are located on private property, like the parking lot of Lowes, Home Depot, King Soopers and Village At the Peaks. Companies contract with mass surveillance companies as part of their theft prevention programs, because they don’t care what happens to your data after they collect it. And as surveillance pricing becomes a greater threat, having mass surveillance in parking lots can become a tool to increase profits.

Unfortunately, private land owners are not required to tell anyone when they deploy the tools of mass surveillance. The Visible Government League believes that people have a right to know when they are being surveilled. And so to start, we need to find all the ALPRs in the city.

One of VGL’s members has written a zine (download here to print and distribute) teaching people how to identify common ALPRs and upload them to DeFlock’s database of mass surveillance cameras.

We’ll be distributing copies at our next social hour on Memorial Day (May 25th) at the St Vrain Cidery from 4 - 6 pm and teaching people how to use the DeFlock app. Once you're equipped, you can sign up to be part of the team searching the city for mass surveillance cameras. See you there!