PROJC01779 ‎(2)‎

• Contract/PO #: C153723
• Contractor Name: Orchard Mesa Irrigation District
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 72
• County: Mesa
• Bill Number: HB 95-1155
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Contract Documents

103 (1), 1 C.R.S. (1997). In contrast to these requirements, a

qualified voter in an irrigation district is not required to be a

natural person. These elections include nonresident

landowners,ll all entities owning land within the district,12 and

proxy voters.I3 Thus, nonresident, unregistered voters, who own

land irrigated by the irrigation district, are eligible to vote

in irrigation district elections.14 Also, irrigation district

elections depart from the traditional "one person, one vote"

requirement for governmental elections.15 A landowner in an

irrigation district may cast a number of votes equal to the

11 See ~ 37-42-106(2), 10 C.R.S. (1997) (nonresidents of
precinct may vote).

12 See ~ 37-42-114 (1), 10 C.R.S. (1997) (defining
"landowners" as "any persons, natural or artificial, resident or
nonresident" ) .

13 See ~ 37-42-108 (1), 10 C.R.S. (1997) (voting for
irrigation district board of directors can be by proxy) .

14 In People v. Milan, 89 Colo; 557, 563, 5 P.2d 249, 253
(1931), we recognized that "the legislature proposed and intended
to place the ultimate power and responsibility of determining all
questions of policy affecting the irrigation districts upon the
owners of the agricultural and horticultural lands therein."

15 The "one person, one vote" principle originated in the
United States Supreme Court's decisions of Baker v. Carr, 369
U.S. 186 (1962), and Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964).

11