Today is June 7, 2024, and here’s what you need to know:

Colorado primary election guide: Voters choose candidates for key races on June 25 | VOTER GUIDE 2024

However messy, the engagement of citizens and candidates is crucial in sustaining this American experiment. Voting in an election is not just any ritual — encapsulated in that act is often the purest expression of a people’s ability to choose their own leaders, exactly the kind of freedom denied to so many in other parts of the world. As a public service, we compiled this guide to help you. 

Colorado Voter Guide | 2024 primary election

Several races this June will not only shape the contests in the general election in November but also define the ideological makeup and partisan breakdown of both the Colorado General Assembly and Congress next year.   

Gov. Jared Polis signs bill delaying statewide implementation of ranked-choice voting in Colorado

Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday signed an elections bill that includes a last-minute amendment that would limit the concept of “ranked choice” voting to a pilot phase in several municipalities before it could be implemented statewide.

In a statement, Polis defended his decision to sign Senate Bill 210, saying it contains important provisions to ensure the “safe, efficient, and trustworthy administration” of elections.

As for the bill’s ranked choice voting provisions, the governor acknowledged it was added “without proper stakeholding” but noted that, if voters this November approved the ballot initiative on this issue, he will work to successfully implement it.

Reclamation Commissioner Touton outlines efforts to safeguard Colorado River basin

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton touted the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration over the past three years, noting efforts that have poured billions of dollars into shoring up the Colorado River basin.

Those efforts mean the near-term threat to the river basin has been fended off, and the system has been stabilized to protect water deliveries, the ecosystem, and power production, Touton told the audience at the 2024 Conference on the Colorado River at the University of Colorado Boulder law school.

Biden administration invests $700M in Colorado River conservation for Lower Basin states

The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will invest $700 million in long-term water conservation projects in the Lower Colorado River Basin.

According to the Department of the Interior, the investment could save more than 700,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead.

An acre-foot of water is the amount it would take to cover one acre of land with one foot of water, or about 326,000 gallons. That’s enough to provide a year’s water supply to two, four-member families.