27J Board of Education directors are elected by voters districtwide

With the election ballot packets set to be in the mail Oct. 13-16, School District 27J reminds voters that the school board members are elected by voters in ALL director districts, not just the one in which the candidate lives.

All voters are able to vote for a candidate in EACH district. This is different from municipal elections in which candidates are voted for by ward.

The districtwide vote in school district elections is set by state law.

The positions are for four-year terms. Again, school board members are elected by a vote of the electors of the entire school district.

The districts in 27J with expiring seats are in Districts 2, 4, and 5.

• Kristi A. Crisman will join incumbent Valerie Espinosa-Martinez in the race for the Director District 2 seat. • Shelley MartindelCampo will join Joan Kniss, in the District 4 race. Currently on the Board of Education, Kniss represented District 5 before the redistricting boundary changes. She is now in District 4. • Four newcomers will compete in the new District 5, created in the Commerce City area as the result of redistricting. Candidates in that race are Patrick D. Day, Richard Morales, Tim Jones and Johanna Brown.
The new boundaries were approved by the board at its December business meeting and will take affect with the election this November. Reapportioning to ensure that each director district contains substantially the same number of residents is required by Colorado State Law every four years.

While each of the seven director districts has grown since the last redistricting in 2004, the greatest population growth in 27J has been in the Commerce City, Henderson and Thornton areas.

Overall, the district has grown from 39,265 to 67,975 residents in the past four years. In 2004, each district had about 5,500 residents. Each district now will have a population of about 9,500.