My name is Anissa Hollingshead. I have two decades of experience as an election administrator and municipal clerk. I am a certified municipal clerk and certified election and registration administrator through the National Association of Election Officials. I am also a Fort Collins resident, taxpayer, and voter living in District 5.
I care deeply about the neutral, consistent, and equitable execution of process and ensuring the rights of voters are protected. That has been the central focus of the majority of my professional career and quite literally a driving force for me personally. The politics of the parties to an electoral process are entirely irrelevant in election administration - my professional focus has always singularly been on ensuring process is executed with neutral professionalism in full compliance with all legal requirements.
I have been the City Clerk and Chief Election Official at:
City of Fort Collins, Colorado
City of Greeley, Colorado
City of Rochester, Minnesota
I also worked in election administration in various capacities at:
City of Minneapolis, Minnesota
City of Columbus, Mississippi
Because of my professional background, I have a solid understanding of petition processes and the existing requirements under the Colorado Constitution, Colorado Revised Statutes, and the Fort Collins City Charter. As a resident and voter, I decided to take a look at the charter questions the City had proposed just before ballots were being sent out on Oct. 15. I was surprised by the level of questions I had about the proposals, and I reached out to the City, including my elected representatives, as well as the City Clerk, City Manager's Office, and City Attorney's Office. The City Clerk has responded to some of my questions, but unfortunately I found many concerns remained unaddressed.
I feel strongly that these charter questions, if passed and put in place, will severely limit the rights of Fort Collins voters to use these processes. The right to pursue all three of these petition processes are guaranteed by nothing less than the Colorado Constitution. It is deeply disturbing these changes have been put forward in what seems like such a flippant manner by the City, riddled with errors and unintended effects, and without clear information for voters as well as the City itself it seems. So I've done what I know how to do - analyze the potential impacts, run through actual timelines and scenarios, and compiled information about these effects to fill the void. Again, I do this as a resident and a voter of Fort Collins, utilizing my own expertise and the information publicly available from the City, and putting it out in a format I know how to work with at no cost to share information as accessibly as possible. My only intention is to share information to protect the rights of Fort Collins voters as effectively as I can.
If other Fort Collins residents have questions or would like to better understand any of this information, contact me via email.