An elections bill that would have undone Colorado’s top-notch voting system. Legislation that focuses on school mascots instead of the woefully inadequate funding to school districts. Bills that make me shake my head surface every session, and these two proposals show the 2021 session is not immune.

Frankly, I would have thought that lawmakers this year would have a sharper focus, considering the damage the pandemic has done to the state and the nation.

A Democratic-controlled Senate committee already has killed Senate Bill 7 by Sen. Paul Lundeen, a Monument Republican. It basically would have dismantled the mail-ballot system lawmakers adopted in 2013 and tweaked in following years.

A number of Republicans nationally blame mail ballots for the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, believing Democrats stole a “landslide” re-election victory from President Donald Trump by manipulating the results.

It is incredible that some Colorado Republicans believe significant voting shenanigans happened in the Centennial state. Most of those serving in the legislature were elected under the mail-ballot system, which undergoes a strict audit.

Lundeen also wanted all ballots counted by midnight on election night, an impossible task in a number of bigger counties and an impediment to military and overseas voters who now enjoy seven extra days to get their ballots in.

Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s campaign used the GOP election measures to fundraise for her 2022 re-election bid, saying Republicans want to strip voting rights. And why wouldn’t she? I wasn’t surprised when she sent a follow-up letter thanking supporters for helping her reach her fundraising goal.

I forwarded Griswold’s fundraising letter to a Colorado Republican with plenty of election experience. His response was right on:

“This is one reason why I get so damn frustrated with GOP legislators. They listen to grifters pushing disinformation and introduce this crap which won’t produce any positive changes,” he wrote.

“This bill would’ve actually shortened the time frame for our overseas military to vote. It allows the Democrats to tee off on Republicans and makes Jena and the D’s look like champions for our military vote.

“We make it too damned easy for them to bash us. So stupid!”

Stupid indeed, because prior to this Griswold has taken some very public hits.

Her pitiful management style was the subject of an eye-opening Colorado Public Radio investigation last year. One of her departing appointees pointed out that under her leadership the executive team experienced a shockingly high turnover.

And Broomfield’s city and county manager, Jennifer Hoffman, worried about a spat involving Broomfield’s clerk and Griswold becoming public before the November election.

“The closer to the election they start jacking around with ‘the unprofessional neophyte that Jena Griswold is,’ the worse it makes it for the state of Colorado,” Hoffman said.

Trust Republicans to make Griswold look good by introducing a bunch of bad election bills.

Before you start hammering me about sour grapes because Griswold beat my boss, former Secretary of State Wayne Williams, a Republican, consider this: Last year I wrote that Griswold’s victory in 2018 was so well done she deserved the Democrat of the Year award from her party.

As for the mascot measure, I knew it was coming. I mean, even the Washington football team said goodbye to its name. But I didn’t think it would happen while school districts are dealing with a rash of issues related to the pandemic, including when to hold in-person classes.

It’s the third attempt in the last 11 years to do something about mascots.

The proposed legislation this year would ban American Indian mascots in public schools, including colleges and universities, and give the schools until next year to remove the mascots. If they don’t, they’d face a monthly fine of $25,000.

I have to ask: What ever happened to local control and letting school boards make these kinds of decisions?

I visited Lamar in 2015 because its mascot name, Savages, was repeatedly singled out as the most offensive. The mascot features an American Indian wearing a headdress and is not affiliated with any particular tribe.

I was stunned at how respectful Lamar treats the image, from student-made statues and sculptures outside the high school to artwork on the walls inside. I grew up in South Dakota and my first reporting job was in Gallup, N.M., and I can tell you that in neither of those locales was there the reverence for the American Indian image you see in Lamar.

I once suggested that if Lamar has to change its mascot, the district should adopt the nickname “Negative Factors.”

What’s a negative factor?

My colleague at Colorado Politics, Joey Bunch, summed up the situation perfectly in his recent column:

“Colorado this year will graduate its first class of kids who have never known a fully funded education system,” he wrote. “It’s been 12 years since the legislature engineered a way to get around voters’ wishes to grow support for schools by inflation plus 1%. Lawmakers borrowed the money from school kids. The ledger bleeds red every year, until the gap has reached $1.15 billion.”

That gap is the negative factor, although the new name for it is the “budget stabilization factor.” It is referred to as the BS factor at times.

The amount the Lamar district has been short-changed is almost $17 million.

Superintendent Dave Tecklenburg said the district shut down an elementary school and laid off more than 40 staffers in 2011. Since then, positions have gone unfilled, meaning teachers and staffers are doing more work and not being compensated for it. Classroom sizes have grown.

“Obviously, it’s harder to buy bigger things, like technology,” he said. “It’s hard to stay caught up when you don’t have the money.”

Tecklenburg is stepping down on July 1, a year later than he originally planned. When the original search for a new school district head was suspended because of the coronavirus, he agreed to stay another year. He won’t be in charge if the Democratic-controlled legislature passes the mascot measure.

Senate Bill 116 is sponsored by Sen. Jessie Danielson of Wheat Ridge, and Reps. Adrienne Benavidez of Adams County and Barbara McLachlan of Durango. The three are Democrats.

A hearing date has not been set.

I wanted input from McLachlan because La Plata County is home to the only two federally recognized tribes in the state, the Southern Ute Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Other tribes roamed what became Colorado at various times in history.

“I wanted the tribes to know I am listening to them,” McLachlan said. “I think the Utes are looking out for tribes nationally.”

But McLachlan, chair of the House Education Committee, is also sympathetic to school districts.

“We’ve been totally unfair to schools. Totally. Nobody else would put up with people borrowing from you and not paying you back although there are promises they will,” she said. “It’s an awful thing.”

Yes, and so is making districts deal with mascot names during this health crisis.