Aspen council signals plan to ask voters to move city elections to November

James Artru, special counsel to the city of Aspen, told the council the purpose of the work session was to consider “whether city council wishes to propose to the voters of the city of Aspen a charter amendment to move the date of the city's general election.” Council members spent the bulk of the session weighing whether to ask voters to shift municipal elections from March to November, and staff outlined a schedule to return ordinance language in August for a possible November ballot.

Council members noted the tradeoffs. Several members said moving to November could boost turnout because “there's more people voting in November,” while others warned about partisan down‑ballot influence and operational impacts on the clerk’s office. James Artru told the council that if they seek a November question, the city would need to bring ordinance language back for first reading on Aug. 11 and second reading on Aug. 25 so the county can set the ballot by Sept. 3. The presiding member summarized that a council majority wanted staff to prepare ballot language and visual transition scenarios for the next packet.

The meeting did not adopt a final ordinance or formal vote at this session; council direction was procedural—staff was asked to return two ordinance readings and explicit transition language and to quantify the administrative and calendar effects. If council proceeds with a November measure, staff indicated choices remain, including whether to retain the city's current runoff system, use ranked‑choice voting, or accept plurality results, and how to draft transition term lengths for sitting officials.