Montezuma County residents will vote Nov. 7 on whether to eliminate term limits for county elected offices.

Referendum 1A asks:

"Shall the term limits imposed by state law on elected officials of Montezuma County be eliminated pursuant to Article XVIII, Section 11(2), of the Colorado Constitution, so that said elected officials may continue to serve without limitation as to number of terms for so long as the Voters of Montezuma County choose to re-elect them to office?"

Colorado’s voters added term limits to the state constitution in the November 1994 election, but with the provision that, "The voters of any such political subdivision may lengthen, shorten or eliminate the limitations on terms of office imposed by this Section 11."

According to Earl Rohrbaugh, chair of the Democratic Central Committee of Montezuma County, both parties collaborated in putting this on the ballot.

Bob Gaddis, vice chairman of the Republican Central Committee of Montezuma County, agreed, saying, "The consensus of the (Republican) central committee is in favor of this referendum."

The committee, Gaddis said, believes that it makes practical sense at the county level because of the small population from which to get qualified candidates.

A similar ballot question was rejected by local voters in 1998 by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent, said Deputy County Clerk Carol Tullis. That measure specified that term limits would be lifted for the following positions: clerk, assessor, coroner, treasurer, sheriff and commissioners.

Tullis said the county commissioners were asked to put the question to the voters again in 1999, but chose not to.

The question on the 2000 ballot is generic — all county elected officials are covered, including the officers of special districts such as the mosquito district and fire districts. Rohrbaugh expressed the hope that this wording would be less confusing to voters.

Rohrbaugh cited three arguments in favor of eliminating term limits on county officials:

• "(Term limitation) penalizes the officeholders who do good."

• "It denies the right of a voter to cast a vote for someone who might be the best choice for the office."

• "Many counties are not overwhelmed with qualified candidates."

Small special districts, such as cemetery and soil-conservation districts, often have difficulty finding anyone to serve on their boards.

Proponents of eliminating term limits also say it is insulting to voters to believe that they aren’t capable of deciding when to reject an incumbent.

The purpose of the limitation, as expressed in the wording added to the constitution in 1994, was to "broaden the opportunities for public service and to assure that elected officials of governments are responsive to the citizens of those governments."

Term-limits supporters believe that being in office gives an incumbent such an advantage over challengers that it has become difficult if not impossible to bring new persons into elected positions.