Metro Denver voters will fill seven seats on the Regional Transportation District’s board in the Nov. 3 election — likely thrusting a mix of new and returning officials into arguably the least enviable positions in local government these days.

They will join a 15-member Board of Directors that is guiding the transit agency through its biggest crisis in decades, as the coronavirus pandemic has sent ridership plunging and blown sizable holes in its budget. The triage likely will continue well into the next term, even as board members and RTD officials, including incoming CEO and General Manager Debra Johnson, hope to map out new strategies to grow ridership. They also will need to weigh equity challenges and reckon with RTD’s unfulfilled rail promises in some parts of the district.

All the while, the agency is facing intense scrutiny from state officials, community leaders and an outside advisory committee that’s undertaking