Don’t Give Up the Right to Vote
Rick Langenberg
As we celebrate another Christmas and the final days of 2025, Teller County and the Ute Pass area have a lot to be thankful about
Here are a few highlights of the good, followed by definite challenges.
Cripple Creek, once a town that got crucified with criticism, appears on a roll with its new Home Rule effort, a Main Street program revival and even the announcement of a new gathering spot and addition of a new eatery and bar, Rascally Rabbit. That’s a good sign, as one of the frequent complaints of gaming, hinged on the lack of retail and familiar social options. All of these options will hopefully bring life to a slew of vacant, deteriorating buildings, owned by operators who are intent on these structures gathering dust, with the hope of a dream offer that will never happen. The town is now bustling with major festivals and attractions, such as Ice Castles, which offer plenty of winter fun. For the first time, the town has a chance to become more than a gaming community, the albatross it carried over its neck since the early 1990s.
Make no bones about it: Gaming saved Cripple Creek, but now it’s definitely time for a new chapter in the town’s life cycle.
Down the Pass, Woodland Park could be reaping gold with a chance to operate its first-ever municipal golf course, Shining Mountain, and hit the jackpot with hundreds of acres of new Open Space for more winter recreational activities and hiking. The golf course has much potential too for a region that has lost three fairly good public links offerings in the last 10 or so years. The new Tava House offers a glimpse of an actual real development and multi-use venture for Woodland Station, which previously sat vacant for several decades. Again, the potential here is amazing.
And better yet, the local WP school district appears headed for a more peaceful pathway, opening the door better relations with its staff and great teachers and a pro-community attitude. A new school board could give the district a better outlook.
But while it’s great to bid thanks for these possibilities, the close of 2025 comes with a definite reality check. Many of the above-mentioned good times’ tidings are ideal opportunities. They also could pose plenty of challenges in the form of housing affordability, employee staffing and economic success.
But at least our region has a blueprint for success, something it lacked in previous years. And some of these problems are good problems to have, compared to what occurred in the past, with so much needless infighting.
Now, the Bad News
However, when it comes to the state and federal terrain, we definitely need some help from Santa, in a major way.
Relations between our local governments and state lawmakers are becoming increasingly strained due to their anti-rural stand on guns, energy and you name it. State lawmakers love to come up with new laws that add expenses and more regulations for local residents.
At the same, tensions are rising between our state leaders and the White House. Colorado has definitely entered the hit list for President Donald Trump, with his decision to dismantle the Space Command from our region and plans to kill our mail-in ballot system. And fights between top state officials, such as state Attorney General Phil Weiser and Secretary of State Jena Griswold, and the president, are almost entering a soap opera-like ordeal, especially with Trump’s fight to free former Mesa Country Clerk Tina Peters. Weiser loves to file lawsuits against the president, (something like one a day), and Trump continues to talk gibberish about voter fraud in Colorado. I don’t think these folks will be extending Christmas cards anytime soon.
On a more serious note, Peters deserved to go to prison for what she did as a country clerk, who was supposed to preserve election integrity and not provide illegal access to election equipment and secure software; although a nine-year sentence does seem excessive.
What concerns me the most with these fights is where they are headed. It is quite clear to me that Colorado and local counties are going to face quite a battle to maintain their mail-in ballot system, a truly successful system that has increased voter participation and offered folks plenty of options, with one great amazing benefit: Voter Convenience. Many of us, including many journalists, were surprised at how well the mail-in ballot system worked. When it was first tried in Cripple Creek, I said, no way. But we were wrong, and almost found ourselves eating our words, similar to the current throng of Denver Bronco cynics from the national media.
With the beginning of 2026 approaching, Democrats, Republicans, Independents and whoever, need to get behind the push to keep our voting system intact. Invite Trump and his allies a detailed tour of how this operates, and suggest this style be explored in other states, instead of rattling away at speeches about fraud and glorifying Tina Peters.
The big misconception about mail-in voting is that you have to actually mail-in your ballots, via the U.S. Postal Service. Hardly anyone does that anymore, especially in rural areas, with most folks using drop-off boxes or even doing it the old-fashion way at designated vote centers. I use a specific drop-off box every time, on the exact election day, almost like a tradition.
Our system is truly a successful model that needs to be preserved.
As everyone knows, 2026 is going to be a trying time on the election front. We don’t need to try a new antiquated paper ballot, hand-counted system, just because of the whims of national leaders who know nothing about Colorado and are more interested in political football.
