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By Shay Castle. Originally published in the Boulder Beat on June 18, 2021.
"Inaccurate guidelines from city officials. A mid-year rule change. Hostile elected officials. A lawsuit, appeal and state Supreme Court inaction. The very rough rollout of a first-of-its kind online petitioning system.
Oh, and a once-in-a-generation pandemic.
All these obstacles have been bested by Bedrooms Are For People as, over the last two election cycles, they and their hundreds of volunteers attempted to change Boulder’s rules on unrelated persons living together.
This fall, they’ll face their final test: The voters of Boulder.
That’s after the news this week that the campaign officially qualified for the ballot as the first (and so far only) petition to use Direct Democracy Online. The city verified all 3,525 signatures collected virtually, according to campaign organizers.
'They were hard to get, but they were all valid,' said Chelsea Castellano, co-organizer of BAFP. 'I’ll give it to the system.'
‘System on top of a system’
Overall, the campaign isn’t that complimentary of Boulder’s $500,000 online petitioning system, which debuted this year mere weeks before Bedrooms’ petition went live. Issues immediately surfaced.
As of May 11, 373 people attempted but were unable to sign, then-City Attorney Tom Carr said last month. Bedrooms claims its own records reveal more than 1,000 unsuccessful signers..."
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