Douglas County Voter Guide 2026, the Last-Minute Cheat Sheet: Every Race, Every Name, Our Read, and How to Get Your Ballot In by 7 p.m. Nov. 3

Monday was the last day to ask the county for a mail ballot and the last day the Secretary of State said to put one in the mail. If yours is still on the counter, this page is for you. It is every contest in the order it prints, with what we have found out about each one, and it ends with the only three ways to return a ballot that still work. Nothing here tells you how to vote. Every line links to the longer page if you want it.

Where things stand, eight days out

The county's dashboard counted 83,797 ballots back as of 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, with Highlands Ranch at 21,467, Parker at 21,299 and Castle Rock at 18,727. That is behind the 108,075 the county had logged at the same point in 2024, which was a presidential year, and well ahead of the 57,160 at the same point in the 2022 midterm. The party mix is the number to watch: Republicans are 31.9 percent of returns so far against 35.8 percent at this point in 2024 and 37.6 percent in 2022, and unaffiliated voters are 44.8 percent, the largest share of any year. The turnout page updates every weekday.

Page one: federal offices

United States Senate. Every voter. John Hickenlooper (D, incumbent) against Mark Baisley (R), plus Forward, Approval Voting, Libertarian and Unity candidates. Our read: Baisley is Douglas County's own state senator from District 4, and his run is why that seat is open this year. The race from Douglas County and who Baisley is.

U.S. House, District 4. Castle Rock, Parker and everything east and south. Lauren Boebert (R, incumbent), Eileen Laubacher (D), Douglas Mangeris (L). Our read: Boebert carried the county by 0.57 points in 2024 while Trump carried it by 7, which makes this the county's closest federal race on paper. Laubacher is a retired rear admiral from Highlands Ranch and a former Republican. Boebert vs Laubacher, could Boebert lose Douglas County, and the profiles of Boebert and Laubacher.

U.S. House, District 6. Highlands Ranch and Lone Tree only. Jason Crow (D, incumbent), Jason Clark (R), Patty McMahon (L), Meredith Ryan (Unity), Samir Witta (unaffiliated). Crow vs Clark.

State offices

Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Every voter; vote for one pair. Phil Weiser and Lesley Dahlkemper (D), Victor Marx and George Markert (R), Greg Lopez and Taralyn Romero (unaffiliated), plus American Constitution, Libertarian, Unity and Approval Voting pairs. Our read: the race to watch in Douglas County. The Republican margin here in 2022 was 1,290 votes, and Lopez, a former Parker mayor, won the county's congressional vote by 12 points in 2024. The three-way race from Douglas County, how Lopez scrambles it here, how low Marx can go, and profiles of Weiser, Marx and Lopez. Our opinion piece, kept separate from those: the case for voting for Lopez.

Secretary of State. Open seat. Amanda Gonzalez (D), James Wiley (R). Gonzalez vs Wiley.

State Treasurer. Open seat. Jeff Bridges (D), Kevin Grantham (R). Bridges vs Grantham, with how the county voted this line in 2018 and 2022.

Attorney General. Open seat. Jena Griswold (D), Michael J. Allen (R). Griswold vs Allen.

CU Regent, Congressional District 6. Highlands Ranch and Lone Tree only. Veanessa Burbage (R), Ilana Spiegel (D), Joe Johnson (L).

State legislature: one Senate and one House race, by address

State Senate, District 4. West and south county; open seat because Baisley is running for U.S. Senate. Teddy Collins (R), Justin Kurth (D). Collins vs Kurth.

State Senate, District 30. Highlands Ranch and Lone Tree. John Carson (R, appointed 2025), Kevin Leung (D). Carson vs Leung.

State Senate, District 27. A small northern slice. Tom Sullivan (D), Danielle Lammon (R), Michele Poague (L).

State House, District 39. Brandi Bradley (R), Christian Schilder (D). Bradley vs Schilder.

State House, District 43. Highlands Ranch. Robert "Bob" Marshall (D, incumbent), Nate Marsh (R). Our read: the county's closest legislative seat. Marshall won by about 400 votes in 2022 and 1,373 in 2024, and he is the plaintiff who sued the commissioners over Questions 200 and 1A. Marshall vs Marsh, and profiles of Marshall and Marsh.

State House, District 44. Anthony Hartsook (R), Richard Bowness (D), John H. Sutton (L). Hartsook vs Bowness.

State House, District 45. Max Brooks (R), Michael Clarkson (D), Caryn Ann Harlos (L). Brooks vs Clarkson.

State House, District 61. The portion of the county inside it. Scott Shamblin (R), Eliza Hamrick (D), Kevin Gulbranson (L).

Douglas County offices: every voter

County Commissioner, District 1. The seat Abe Laydon is leaving. Jake Bockenfeld (R), Irene Bonham (D). Every county voter votes on it, whichever district you live in. Our read: Bockenfeld beat John Diak 55 to 44 in the June primary; Bonham, unopposed, drew 35,653 primary votes to his 26,649. Bockenfeld vs Bonham, and profiles of Bockenfeld and Bonham.

Clerk and Recorder. Sheri Davis (R, incumbent), Jim Oehler (D). Our read: whoever wins would implement Amendment 84, the ID digits on mail ballots, if it passes on the same ballot. Davis vs Oehler.

Treasurer. Tim Dietz (R), Dan Smith (D). Dietz is the sitting Castle Rock councilmember for District 6; Smith spent 20 years in corporate finance. Dietz vs Smith, and profiles of Dietz and Smith.

Assessor. Toby Damisch (R, incumbent), Kara Garr (D). Damisch vs Garr.

Sheriff, Surveyor and Coroner. All three unopposed: Darren M. Weekly, Darrell E. Roberts and Raeann Brown, all Republicans.

Town offices: only if you live in the town

Castle Rock Mayor. Four-year term. Laura Cavey, Amelia Thomas, Stu Butler, all nonpartisan. Our read: Cavey is mayor pro tem with the firefighters' endorsement, Butler chaired the Downtown Development Authority, and Thomas is running as the outsider. The mayor's race.

Castle Rock Town Council, Districts 3 and 5. Residents of each district only. District 3: Chris Phelen, Tiffany Coyle, Matt Smith. District 5: Mitchell Sawin, Patrick Reilly. District 3 is the eastern Meadows, Castle Highlands, Red Hawk and the Wolfensberger corridor; District 5 is southeast Castle Rock. The council races.

Parker Town Council. Vote for three of five, four-year terms. Kristin Williams, Erik Frandsen, Johnnie Turnidge, Brandi Wilks, Anne Barrington. The five candidates.

Judges: yes or no on each of 13

Nobody runs against a judge in Colorado; you vote to retain or not. All 13 on this ballot were rated "Meets Performance Standards" by their performance commissions, and 12 of the 13 votes were unanimous. The one that was not: 23rd Judicial District Judge Victoria E. Klingensmith, 6-1, the judge who declined to change the wording of Questions 200 and 1A before the election. Her survey was small, four attorneys, and the commission relied on its interview, her opinions and courtroom observation.

• Supreme Court: William W. Hood III (9-0)
• Court of Appeals: Rebecca Rankin Freyre, Elizabeth L. Harris, Katharine E. Lum, Pax Moultrie, Karl L. Schock, Grant Sullivan (each 9-0)
• 23rd Judicial District: Andrew Baum (7-0), Victoria E. Klingensmith (6-1), Theresa Slade (7-0), Daniel W. Warhola (6-0, one recusal)
• Douglas County Court: Lawrence Bowling and Kolony L. Fields (each 7-0); these two print after the county questions

Every narrative, vote and survey number is on the judges page.

Since 1990, Colorado voters have retained 1,898 of 1,914 judges who stood. The question is almost never whether a judge stays. It is whether anyone looked.

The 14 statewide measures, one line each

Amendments need 55 percent to pass, except 87, which repeals constitutional language and needs a simple majority. Propositions need a simple majority. Thirteen of the fourteen came from citizen petitions. All fourteen for Douglas County, and the cost calculator for the money ones.

• Amendment 81: law enforcement must notify federal immigration authorities about certain people charged with crimes; the county's sheriff, unopposed on this ballot, would do the notifying. Our page
• Amendment 82: a constitutional right to buy natural gas for cooking and heating; no Douglas County town has restricted hookups, so the effect here is on future councils. Our page
• Amendment 83: a constitutional right to hunt and fish; it would not open county open space to hunting
• Amendment 84: the last four digits of your Social Security number or driver's license on the mail ballot envelope, and no count until a missing one is cured. Our page
• Amendment 85: all state and local ballot questions written at an eighth-grade reading level; read Questions 200, 201 and 1A and you will see the appeal
• Amendment 86: mid-decade redistricting would need the independent commission and the Supreme Court; the county's split between the 4th and 6th districts would be harder to redraw before 2031
• Amendment 87: replaces the 4.4 percent flat income tax with six brackets from 3.7 to 8.4 percent; the state's fiscal statement puts the net increase at about $2.7 billion a year. Our page, with the math by income
• Proposition NN: the legislature's one referral; raises the TABOR cap, without a new tax, to grow K-12 funding for ten years at the cost of smaller refunds. Our page
• Proposition 132: possession of any amount of fentanyl becomes a felony, with 8 to 32 years for distribution; the 23rd Judicial District's DA and sheriff both support it. Our page on 132 and 133
• Proposition 133: mandatory life without parole for child sex trafficking
• Proposition 134: school and college sports teams designated by biological sex; it would override DCSD's and CHSAA's current policies. Our page
• Proposition 135: bans surgeries on minors to alter sex characteristics and bars state funds for them. Our page
• Proposition 136: caps the income tax at 4.4 percent; its purpose is to block Amendment 87, and if both pass the one with more yes votes generally controls. Our page
• Proposition 137: exempts the sales tax already collected on sporting goods from the TABOR limit for conservation and wildfire mitigation. Our page

Douglas County questions: every voter

Questions 200, 201 and 1A are three questions about one idea: should the county have five commissioners instead of three, and who elects them. Two came from a citizen petition, one from the commissioners, and a yes on 201 and a yes on 1A point in opposite directions. Our read of the ballot text, which is not legal advice:

• Keep three commissioners: no on 200
• Five, each elected by its own district: yes on 200, option one on 201, no on 1A
• Five, three by district plus two at large: yes on 200, option two on 201, no on 1A
• Five, elected by everyone as now: yes on 200, yes on 1A, leave 201 blank
• Yes on everything is the ballot that contradicts itself

The full explainer, and what the judge ruled on the wording.

Local questions: only if you live there

DCSD Ballot Issue 5A. A $54 million a year mill levy override for the school district, about $33.70 a year per $100,000 of home value starting with 2027 tax bills, so about $168.50 on a $500,000 house. The largest share goes to teacher and staff raises; voters rejected an override 49 to 51 in 2022 and passed a $66 million one in 2023. What it costs your house.

Castle Pines Questions 300 and 301. Charter amendments requiring a citywide vote on any annexation over 20 acres, and sending recent ones back to voters; the 795-acre proposal behind them is on our page.

Larkspur Fire Protection District, 6A and 6B. A 3.97-mill increase, about $925,000 a year, and $4.5 million in debt.

Stone Creek Metropolitan District, 6C through 6G. Repealing debt and spending authority approved by three voters in 2014; only Stone Creek residents see it.

West Metro Fire (7C) and Conifer Fire (7D). Slivers of the county's western edge.

City of Aurora, 3A through 3D. Three new sales taxes and a move to even-year elections; if you see these, you live in the few blocks of Aurora inside the county.

Ballot Issue 7A, Front Range Passenger Rail. Printed on every Douglas County ballot in error. It counts only for voters inside the district's boundary here, the Sterling Ranch metropolitan districts and the piece of Littleton inside the county. The county's instruction is to vote the ballot you have; an out-of-district vote on 7A is simply not counted and changes nothing else on your ballot.

How to return it now

A drop box. The fastest way. Sign and date the envelope, seal it, and drop it in any of the 23 boxes; you do not have to use the one nearest your address. Castle Rock has six, Highlands Ranch five, Parker five, Lone Tree two, the Littleton addresses on the west side three, and Castle Pines and Larkspur one each. Every box, by town.

A voting center. Any registered county voter can use any center. Four are open now: Douglas County Human Services at 4400 Castleton Court in Castle Rock, Parks and Trails at 9651 S. Quebec St. and Westridge Recreation Center at 9650 Foothills Canyon Blvd. in Highlands Ranch, and Parker Town Hall at 20120 E. Mainstreet. Nine more open Friday, Oct. 30, including Kirk Hall and the Ridge House in Castle Rock, Northridge Recreation Center, Lone Tree Library and four Parker sites, and the last ten open Monday, Nov. 2. A center can also replace a lost ballot, register you or fix your registration, and take your voted ballot. Bring ID: a Colorado driver's license or ID, a passport, a utility bill or bank statement from the last 60 days with your name and address, and the rest of the state's list, which is on the voting locations page with every address and hour.

No ballot at all. Call the elections office at 303-660-7444, weekdays 8 to 5, or walk into a center for a replacement; replacements are available through Election Day, and if you vote in person you surrender the mail ballot you were sent.

Then watch your envelope on the county's track-your-ballot page. If a signature or ID problem is flagged, the county mails a cure letter, and you have until 11:59 p.m. Nov. 12 to fix it.

More: every race and candidate on your ballot, the ballot line by line, the two party voter guides side by side, and who has voted so far. We do not endorse candidates; the one opinion piece above is labeled as such. The elections office is at 303-660-7444.