Smith runs junior election for special district elections

While there were precincts at the Estes Valley Library and the Learning Place, only students at Estes Park High School participated. However, Smith said that 139 students voted, which is 49% of the students attending EPHS. 

Passionate about civic involvement, Judi Smith has been coordinating the Junior Election program in Estes Park since 2016, three years after the state passed the Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act of 2013.

The student votes were similar but not identical to the regular election votes. How voters cast their ballots is often attributed more to personal familiarity and candidates’ name recognition than to a candidate’s platform. 

For instance, Jon “Hippy” Smith, who ran for and won a seat on the Fire District Board, is the father of students in the Estes Park School system. He owns High Plains Excavation, and his company generously excavated the old stadium on the school campus last year to make way for the new stadium.