Douglas County Voting Guide 2026: What the Republican and Democratic Party Guides Recommend, Side by Side

A party voter guide is a slate card. It tells you how the party wants you to vote, usually in one line per item, and it is written to be copied onto a ballot, not to explain anything. Both Douglas County parties have one up for November 3, and reading them next to each other is useful for a different reason than either intends: it shows you which questions are genuinely partisan, which are not, and where the two sides of this county quietly want the same thing.

Statewide measures

Each line: the item, what the Democrats say, what the Republicans say, and our page on what it does.

• Amendment 81, police notification of federal immigration authorities. Democrats: no. Republicans: yes. What it means for Douglas County.
• Amendment 82, constitutional right to buy and sell natural gas. Democrats: no. Republicans: yes. Our page.
• Amendment 83, constitutional right to hunt and fish. Democrats: no position. Republicans: yes. Covered in the 14-measure overview.
• Amendment 84, ID digits on mail ballot envelopes. Democrats: no. Republicans: yes. Our page.
• Amendment 85, plain-language ballot titles. Democrats: no. Republicans: yes. In the overview.
• Amendment 86, limits on mid-decade congressional redistricting. Democrats: no. Republicans: no. The first of two agreements, reached from opposite directions: the Democratic guide says it would tie Colorado's hands while other states redraw, and the Republican guide simply marks it no. In the overview.
• Amendment 87, graduated income tax. Democrats: yes. Republicans: no. What it means for Douglas County, by household income.
• Proposition 132, fentanyl penalties. Democrats: no. Republicans: yes. Our page on 132 and 133.
• Proposition 133, the measure its sponsors call the Children Are Not For Sale Act. Democrats: no position. Republicans: yes. Same page.
• Proposition 134, school sports by biological sex. Democrats: no. Republicans: yes. Our page, with DCSD's current policy.
• Proposition 135, ban on transition surgeries for minors. Democrats: no. Republicans: yes. Our page.
• Proposition 136, 4.4 percent income tax cap. Democrats: no. Republicans: yes. Our page, including what happens if 87 passes too.
• Proposition 137, sporting goods sales tax to conservation. Democrats: no. Republicans: no. The second agreement. The Democratic guide objects to permanently diverting general fund money; the Republican guide marks it no without comment. Our page.
• Proposition NN, keep revenue above the cap for schools. Democrats: yes. Republicans: no. Our page, with what DCSD would get.

Twelve of fourteen split on party lines, in the direction you would guess. The two exceptions, 86 and 137, are both measures backed by groups that are not the parties, and both guides treat them as something other than a left-right question.

Douglas County questions

• Question 200, three commissioners to five. Democrats: yes. Republicans: no. The three tangled questions, explained.
• Question 201, how to elect five. This is a choice, not a yes or no: five by district, or three by district plus two at large. Democrats: the first option, all five by district. Republicans: the second option. Same page.
• Question 1A, keep electing every commissioner countywide. Democrats: no. Republicans: yes. Same page, including why a yes on 201 and a yes on 1A point in opposite directions.
• Ballot Issue 5A, the $54 million DCSD mill levy override. Democrats: yes. Republicans: no. What it costs your house.
• Ballot Issue 7A, the Front Range Passenger Rail sales tax. Democrats: yes, for rail-district voters. Republicans: no. It is printed on every Douglas County ballot and counts only inside the district; our page on the ballot error.
• Castle Pines Questions 300 and 301, voter approval of annexations over 20 acres. Democrats: yes on both. Republicans: not mentioned in the county guide. Our page.

The county questions are the cleaner test of what each party wants here. The Democrats want a bigger board elected by district, more school money and the rail tax; the Republicans want the board kept at three, elected countywide if it grows, and no on both taxes. Nothing in either guide explains the reasoning past a sentence, which is what our pages are for.

Judges

The Republican guide takes a position on all thirteen retention questions: do not retain Justice William W. Hood III of the Colorado Supreme Court, and retain the other twelve, including all six Court of Appeals judges, the four 23rd Judicial District judges and both Douglas County Court judges. The Democratic guide has no judicial section. The state's performance commissions found every judge on the ballot meets the standard; our judge-by-judge page has the vote counts and the survey numbers behind each evaluation.

Candidates

Each guide lists only its own nominees, so there is nothing to compare: the Republican guide names 25 candidates from U.S. Senate down to the Castle Rock and Parker council races, and the Democratic site has its own candidate page. Our race pages carry both nominees in every contest, from Boebert vs Laubacher to the county treasurer, and are linked from every race on your ballot.

How to use this

If you vote a straight party line, you already have your card. If you do not, the two agreements and the two abstentions are the interesting part: 86 and 137 are questions where the party guides will not help you, and 83 and 133 are ones where one party decided not to tell its own voters what to do. Those four are worth the five minutes with our pages.

In-person voting is open; every voting center, drop box and deadline is here. More: every race and measure on your ballot, the November ballot guide and what the 14 statewide measures mean for Douglas County. We do not endorse candidates or ballot questions. Corrections to hello@discoverdougco.com.