Here's an important ballot initiative that voters in Denver will be considering on Tuesday:

Shall the voters for the City and County of Denver adopt an Initiated Ordinance to require the creation of an extraterrestrial affairs commission to help ensure the health, safety, and cultural awareness of Denver residents and visitors in relation to potential encounters or interactions with extraterrestrial intelligent beings or their vehicles, and fund such commission from grants, gifts and donations?

Supporters of Initiative 300 say that the government has covered up visits by extraterrestrials and is suppressing advanced technologies the visitors have brought with them. The initiative would address this by authorizing a commission made up mostly of Denver residents, and directing the commission to "create a responsible, responsive, common sense strategy for dealing with issues related to the presence of extraterrestrial intelligent beings on Earth."

Opponents of Initiative 300 say that's stupid.

One difficulty that opponents point to is the initative's requirement that each member of the commission "must be a knowledgeable expert in some area related to extraterrestrial intelligent beings or their vehicles." Exactly how one might become a "knowledgeable expert" with regard to aliens or their vehicles, other than attending a lot of Star Trek conventions, is not clear, nor are the standards for measuring such expertise. The initiative language does state, though, that a "certificate or diploma in exopolitics," defined as the "study of the key individuals, political or other institutions, and processes associated with extraterrestrial life," would be sufficient.

Especially during this election year, God knows there is no shortage of exopoliticians. Whether any of them are certified or not is another story.

Link: Forbes.com