Best of the West (Yellow Scene Magazine): How Voting Works & How to Win

Best of the West: Boulder County's write-in readers' poll

Best of the West is Yellow Scene Magazine's readers' poll for Boulder County, Colorado, published directly at yellowscene.com/best-of-the-west. The magazine describes it on its own page as "BOCO's only true Readers Poll," adding: "It is the only OPEN poll to vote for community favorites. There are no drop-down menus. YS is the only write-in ballot for our readers to tell us who's best."

That write-in structure sets Best of the West apart from a typical nominate-then-vote ballot: a reader types in whichever business, person or place they think deserves the win, rather than choosing from a preset list. Confirmed editions land in 2023, 2025 and 2026, and the 2026 poll is confirmed open on the current page, with no closing date printed yet.

The ballot page lists no category roster and no per-supporter limit; confirm on the live ballot each cycle, since a write-in format like this one can carry rules a preset ballot wouldn't need.

One write-in poll among several Colorado best-of ballots

Colorado carries more than one program calling itself a "best of" ballot, and Yellow Scene's own Boulder County entry stands apart by format as much as by geography. Nothing about its write-in structure carries over to the programs below.

None of those six other Colorado programs runs through Yellow Scene Magazine, and the current page gives no sign any of them shares Best of the West's write-in format. A name written in at yellowscene.com/best-of-the-west settles nothing on any of the other six, and a strong showing on one of them buys nothing here either.

Reading past the name alone

"Best of" is common enough as a label that a search for it turns up results with nothing to do with Boulder County specifically. yellowscene.com/best-of-the-west, typed directly, is the one address carrying Yellow Scene's own write-in ballot and its 2023, 2025 and 2026 editions.

Boulder County's own ballot, without a wider trade area guessed in

Boulder County is the area Yellow Scene Magazine names for this ballot, and the live page draws no boundary beyond that label. No neighborhood list, no adjoining-county note, and no line about which shoppers from outside Boulder County count toward a write-in appear on yellowscene.com/best-of-the-west.

Yellow Scene Magazine's own site lists no separate promotion tied to this specific poll beyond the page itself; nothing here points to a sister sweepstakes or a second vote running alongside Best of the West on the same site.

A person writing in a name should treat the county label at face value: Boulder County. Whatever a supporter assumes about a wider trade area is that person's own read of the situation, since Yellow Scene has not spelled out a boundary either way.

A three-edition write-in poll with an open 2026 ballot and no closing date yet

Three confirmed editions, 2023, 2025 and 2026, do not form an unbroken run every single year, so a Boulder County business shouldn't assume Best of the West returns automatically until the current page confirms it again. The 2026 poll sits open right now, but nothing published fixes when write-ins actually stop.

Yellow Scene's own description sets expectations plainly: no drop-down menus, no preset list of names, just an open field for "community favorites." That openness cuts both ways for a business chasing recognition, since appearing in the results depends entirely on someone actually typing that name in, not on making a shortlist first.

Filling in a write-in field is a request a supporter makes; Yellow Scene Magazine alone decides how those write-ins turn into a result. Is buying votes legal sets out where a genuine push toward a ballot like this turns into a risk. Buying votes online breaks down what outside help realistically changes for a write-in format such as Best of the West, and award-vote campaign planning works through steps a Boulder County business might take toward its next confirmed edition.