This Douglas County Democrats guide covers the statewide ballot measures and Douglas County and local questions listed below, with an official recommendation for each measure where applicable.

 

• Vote YES: Amendment 87, Proposition NN, Douglas County Questions 200 and 201 (all-district option), Ballot Issue 5A, Ballot Issue 7A (rail district voters), Castle Pines Issues 300 and 301 (Castle Pines voters), Aurora Question 3D (Aurora voters).

• Vote NO: Amendments 81, 82, 84, 85 and 86; Propositions 132, 134, 135, 136 and 137; Douglas County Question 1A.

• No Position: Amendment 83, Proposition 133

​

VOTE YES

​

✅ Amendment 87 - Income Tax Fairness Act

Backed by: Protect Colorado's Future (Bell Policy Center, Colorado Fiscal Institute, New Era Colorado).

Opposed by: Advance Colorado and the Independence Institute.
Passes with a simple majority

​

Cuts taxes for roughly 97% of Colorado taxpayers, asks the top 3% to pay more, and sends the new revenue to K-12 schools, health care and child care.

 

Replaces Colorado’s flat income tax with a graduated income tax, reducing taxes for individuals and corporations earning less than $500,000 annually while increasing taxes on incomes above $500,000. The measure is projected to raise approximately $2 billion in new state revenue dedicated exclusively to K-12 public education, health care, and early childhood care and education. It also requires annual public audits, reports, and hearings to ensure transparency and accountability for how the funds are spent.

​

✅ Proposition NN - Public School Funding

Backed by: the Yes for Colorado Kids campaign, and referred to the ballot by the Democratic-led legislature (SB26-135). Opposed by: the Independence Institute and Common Sense Institute.
Passes with a simple majority

​

Adds roughly $500 million a year for schools without raising anyone's tax rate.

 

Raises Colorado’s revenue limit above the current Referendum C cap, allowing the state to retain additional revenue for public education and essential services. Funds will first reimburse local governments for senior citizen and disabled veteran property tax exemptions and support K-12 priorities, including teacher pay and retention, smaller class sizes, and career and technical education. For the first 10 years, additional funding will also support school and disability services, child care, and full-day preschool. This measure provides a pathway for Colorado to invest more in education and services that help children and families thrive.

​

✅ Ballot Question 200: 3 to 5 — Douglas County Commissioners

Backed by 3 to 5 DougCo, a citizen-led bipartisan campaign that gathered over 20,000 signatures.

Opposed by: no organized committee; current commissioners have publicly opposed a district-based model.

Passes with a simple majority

​

Expands County Commission from 3 to 5 members.

​

Would grow Douglas County's Board of Commissioners from three to five seats, arguing the county has outgrown adequate representation as its population has grown from about 70,000 to nearly 400,000 residents. No separately named opposition committee has organized, though the sitting Board of County Commissioners itself added contested cost-related language to the ballot title over organizers' objections, estimating the added annual expense at $760,000 to $1,300,000. Note that the current commissioner salary is about $159,000 per commissioner, so two additional commissioners would represent about $318,000 in annual salaries, plus associated expenses. The commissioners have cited a broader estimated cost of $760,000–$1.3 million. That figure is a projection, not simply the cost of two additional commissioner salaries, and the actual cost would depend on staffing and other expenses.

​

✅ Ballot Question 201 (First option) - District Commissioners

Note: this isn't a yes/no question, it's a choice between how the five commissioners would be elected if Question 200 passes. We recommend voters choose this option: five district commissioners, each elected by district.

Passes with a simple majority

​

Elects five district commissioners, each representing a distinct district.

If Question 200 passes, this determines how the new five-member board is structured. Electing all five by district would mean every part of the county, not just the most populous areas, has a guaranteed seat at the table, rather than commissioners all competing for the same countywide vote.

​​

✅ Ballot Issue 5A - Douglas County Schools

Backed by: the Douglas County School District Board of Education, on a unanimous vote.

Opposed by: no organized committee.

Passes with a simple majority

​

Provides funding for teacher pay and school security.

Would authorizes a $54 million mill levy override to fund a 4% raise for teachers and staff, expanded school resource officer and security funding, and career and technical education. For a home valued at $700,000, it would cost about $236 more a year. Simple majority.

​

✅ Ballot Issue 7A - Front Range Passenger Rail (rail district voters only)

Backed by: the Front Range Passenger Rail District board, on a 14-1 vote.

Opposed by: no organized campaign; board member Cory Applegate cast the one no vote.
Passes with a simple majority of voters within the rail district.

​

Connects Fort Collins and Pueblo by passenger rail, funded by a small local sales tax.

Would create a 0.333% sales and use tax, 33 cents on a $100 purchase, to fund the "Colorado Connector" passenger rail line. It applies within the district's roughly 30 member communities, and only residents inside the district vote on and pay it. Simple majority of voters within the district.

​

✅ Ballot Issues 300 and 301 - Castle Pines Annexation Voter Approval (Castle Pines voters only)

Backed by: People Against Annexing Crowsnest, which gathered more than 1,344 signatures on each measure.

Opposed by: the Castle Pines City Council, which passed a resolution against them.
Passes with a simple majority

​

Requires annexations over 20 acres to get voter approval.

​

These two citizen-initiated charter amendments emerged after a controversial 2025 proposal, known as Crowsnest, to annex land into Castle Pines without a public vote. Issue 300 would permanently require any parcel over 20 acres to win voter approval before it can be annexed into the city, closing a gap where City Council alone could approve major annexations. Issue 301 is a narrower companion measure: it would require any annexation completed in the 180 days before the amendment takes effect to go back to voters for ratification, and lets Council repeal that provision if no such annexation occurs. Together, they'd give residents a direct vote on large-scale development decisions that currently rest solely with City Council.

​

✅ Ballot Question 3D - Moving Aurora Municipal Elections to Even-Numbered Years (Aurora Only)

Backed by a majority of the Aurora City Council, which supports moving municipal elections to higher-turnout even-numbered years
Opposed by four Aurora City Council members, who argued that odd-year elections allow voters to focus more directly on local candidates and issues
Passes with a simple majority

​

Moves Aurora's regular municipal elections from odd-numbered years to even-numbered years.

​

Question 3D would amend the Aurora City Charter to move regular municipal elections onto even-numbered election cycles, placing mayoral and City Council races on the same ballots as federal and statewide elections. The change would require one-time shortened terms to transition the city to the new schedule. Supporters say the move could increase voter participation by putting local elections on higher-turnout ballots, while opponents argue that local races could be overshadowed by national and state campaigns and become more partisan.

​

VOTE NO
 

❌ Amendment 81 - Immigration Reporting Requirement

Backed by: Advance Colorado.

Opposed by: ACLU Colorado, Rocky Mountain Equality and others.
Passes with 55% of the vote

 

Makes police report certain suspected undocumented people to federal immigration authorities after they're charged, not convicted.
 

Would require Colorado law enforcement agencies to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when they file certain criminal charges, specifically a crime of violence, or a case where the person has a prior felony conviction, against someone who is either known to be "not lawfully present" in the U.S. or whose immigration status is unknown. The trigger is the charge, not a conviction. This would reverse current state law, which strictly limits this kind of cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities.

​

❌ Amendment 82 - Right to Natural Gas

Backed by: Advance Colorado, the sponsor.

Opposed by: the Colorado Democratic Party.
Passes with 55% of the vote

 

Limits Colorado's future energy choices by creating a constitutional right to buy and sell natural gas.

Proposes a two-sentence change that would enshrine the right to buy and sell natural gas in the state constitution: "Consumers have the right to purchase natural gas for cooking or heating in homes or businesses throughout the state." "Distributors and utilities have the right to sell natural gas for homes or businesses." It limits future energy choices by putting the question beyond ordinary legislation.

​

❌ Amendment 84 - Mail Ballot Voter ID

Backed by: the Coalition for American Prosperity and Growth.

Opposed by: the Colorado Democratic Party.
Passes with 55% of the vote

 

Adds an ID requirement that could cause eligible voters' mail ballots to be rejected.

Would end signature-only verification of mail ballots. Voters would write the last four digits of their Social Security number, a driver's license number or another REAL ID-compliant state ID number on the ballot, and officials would check it against the voter registration database, with a cure process if it doesn't match. That adds a requirement that could cause eligible voters' ballots to be rejected.

​

❌ Amendment 85 - Plain Language Ballot Questions

Backed by: Advance Colorado.

Opposed by: No Pollution in the Constitution and Vote Common Sense.
Passes with 55% of the vote

 

Makes it harder to satisfy existing tax-disclosure requirements alongside the new readability rule.

​

Requires all future state and local ballot questions (citizen initiatives and legislatively referred measures alike) to be written in plain language at no more than an 8th-grade reading level, and prohibits any state statute from imposing conflicting language requirements on citizen initiatives.

​

❌ Amendment 86 - Congressional Redistricting Lock-In

Backed by: Advance Colorado.

Opposed by: Fair Redistricting Colorado and A Brighter Colorado.
Passes with 55% of the vote

 

Locks Colorado's maps in place while other states redraw theirs to gain a partisan edge.

​

Would lock Colorado's redistricting process into the constitution, requiring near-impossible approval from both the independent commission and the Colorado Supreme Court for any mid-decade map changes. While framed as protecting against gerrymandering, it ties Colorado's hands just as Texas and other GOP-led states redraw their own maps mid-decade to lock in seats. Amendment 86 would leave Colorado unable to respond, putting our state at a disadvantage heading into 2028 and 2030. Voters, not one advocacy group's constitutional lock-in, should keep that flexibility.

​

❌ Proposition 132 - Fentanyl Penalties

Backed by: Advance Colorado.

Opposed by: the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.
Passes with a simple majority

 

Sends someone who shares a single pill to prison for as long as a major trafficker.

​

Would make any amount of fentanyl possession a felony and require a mandatory 8-year minimum sentence for distribution, even of a single pill, regardless of intent or knowledge. It also eliminates treatment-diversion options for offenders. Opponents, including the CCJRC, argue it prioritizes incarceration over treatment and could cost over $433 million over five years without funding the treatment it mandates.

​

❌ Proposition 134 - School Sports Eligibility

Backed by: Protect Kids Colorado.

Opposed by: Rocky Mountain Equality, One Colorado and Families Not Politics.
Passes with a simple majority

 

Bans transgender kids from playing school sports with their peers.

​

Would ban transgender youth of any age from playing school sports consistent with their gender identity, forcing schools to sort athletes strictly by sex assigned at birth. It singles out transgender students, excluding them from shared school activities their peers take for granted, under the guise of "protecting" children from what supporters call a "dangerous ideology." Groups opposing the measure warn it targets a small group of vulnerable students rather than addressing any real, widespread problem in Colorado's youth sports.  They also cite the measure’s lack of a clearly defined process for determining eligibility and argue that decisions should remain with families, schools, and athletic organizations.

​

❌ Proposition 135 - Prohibit Certain Surgeries on Minors

Backed by: Protect Kids Colorado.

Opposed by: Rocky Mountain Equality, One Colorado and its Families Not Politics campaign.
Passes with a simple majority

 

Outlaws a surgery that Colorado's own children's hospitals don't perform on minors.

​

Would ban gender-affirming surgery for minors and block Medicaid or state funding for such care, despite the fact that neither Children's Hospital Colorado nor Denver Health, the state's two major providers of gender-affirming care, perform these surgeries on minors in the first place. It targets a practice that isn't happening in Colorado, relying on fear rather than evidence. Organizations including One Colorado’s Families Not Politics campaign and Rocky Mountain Equality oppose the measure, raising concerns about access to medically necessary care, insurance coverage, and the role of government in medical decision-making.

​

❌ Proposition 136 - Income Tax Rate Cap

Backed by: Advance Colorado.

Opposed by: the Colorado Fiscal Institute and the Bell Policy Center.
Passes with a simple majority

 

Locks in a tax break for the wealthiest Coloradans while budget shortfalls persist.

​

Would permanently cap Colorado's income tax rate at its current flat 4.4%, blocking any future increases on high earners. It's a direct counter to Amendment 87, the competing graduated income tax measure that would raise rates on income over $500,000 a year while cutting taxes for most Coloradans. If both pass, whichever gets more total yes votes wins. Advance Colorado argues a tax hike would drive jobs and residents out of the state, while opponents, including the Colorado Fiscal Institute and the Bell Policy Center, argue the measure protects the wealthiest Coloradans from paying more while working families shoulder ongoing budget shortfalls.

​

❌ Proposition 137 - Sporting Goods Tax for Conservation

Backed by: The Nature Conservancy and other environmental groups.

Opposed by: no organized campaign; the Colorado Democratic Party's State Central Committee voted to oppose.
Passes with a simple majority

 

Permanently diverts general fund revenue, tying future legislators' hands on budget priorities.

​

Would let the state keep roughly $175 million a year in sales tax revenue on sporting goods and outdoor gear, money currently refunded to taxpayers under TABOR when collections exceed the state's spending cap, and redirect it toward conservation, wildfire mitigation, and outdoor recreation programs. No formal opposition campaign has organized, though the League of Women Voters of Colorado has raised concerns that permanently diverting funds from the general fund limits future legislative flexibility.

​

❌ Ballot Question 1A - At-Large Election of Expanded Commission
Backed by: the sitting Board of County Commissioners, which referred it on a unanimous vote.

Opposed by: backers of the 3-to-5 initiative.
Passes with a simple majority

 

Keeps all five commissioners elected at-large, countywide, if the board expands.

​

Question 1A asks whether, if the board expands to five, all registered voters should continue to elect all commissioners countywide. A no vote supports electing the five by district. Countywide elections favor candidates with the money and name recognition to run expensive campaigns, while district elections give communities across Douglas County a real chance to elect someone who understands their needs. It only matters if Question 200 passes.

​

No Position:

Amendment 83

Proposition 133

​

How to vote

Colorado mails every active registered voter a ballot, and the safest way to return it is a drop box.

​

• Fri, Oct 2: Counties may begin mailing ballots

• Fri, Oct 9: Deadline for clerks to mail ballots to every active voter; drop boxes begin accepting ballots

• Mon, Oct 19: Counting of mail ballots begins:

• Mon, Oct 26: Last day to register and still receive a ballot by mail

• Tue, Oct 27 to Tue, Nov 3: Register and vote in person at a Voter Service and Polling Center

• Tue, Nov 3: Election Day. Ballots must be received by 7 p.m.