Denver voters Tuesday offered an emphatic show of support for Mayor Michael Hancock’s vision for transforming the city — by developing both the National Western Center in north Denver and property at Denver International Airport.

But early returns suggested they also reined in the mayor on an ill-advised proposal that they correctly considered far outside of the city’s essential duties. They said “no” to a tax hike to support college scholarships for Denver students and to help pay back college loans.

That vote, if it holds, was especially significant considering the governor’s galling intercession on behalf of the measure in recent days, calling on Denverites to take on what should be a state duty.

The supportive votes for measures 1A and 2C, meanwhile, were not surprising since no new taxes were requested and no significant opposition organized to oppose either one. But proponents had worried that anti-development sentiment percolating in the city might undermine these forward-looking measures. Fortunately, it did not.

Adams County voters did their part by signaling their needed support for the DIA agreement.

The recall of three Jefferson County school board members is hardly startling, either, given two years of constant turmoil engineered by opponents, most of whom were initially more worried about what the conservative trio might do than what they actually accomplished. And the board majority gave their opponents an invaluable gift when one proposed examining the AP history curriculum in order to remove negative portrayals of the U.S. past — confirming a reactionary stereotype.

The unfortunate legacy of this latest recall success, however, combined with the recalls of state senators in 2013 over gun-control votes, is that activists will be further emboldened to resort to a recall over political disagreements rather than wait for regularly scheduled elections.

And that, we will continue to insist, is an abuse of the process.

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