Colorado election 2025: Eight ballot measures to be decided by Denver voters

Election Day is Nov. 4. Eligible Coloradans can register to vote or update their registration at GoVoteColorado.com. Any eligible voter who registers to vote before Oct. 27 will receive a ballot in the mail. After Oct. 27, eligible voters can still register and vote in-person at a polling location until 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Voters who receive a mail ballot can return it through the mail, deposit it in a secure ballot drop box, or drop it off at an in-person polling location. County clerks in Colorado’s 64 counties oversee elections in their jurisdictions, and information about ballot drop box and in-person service locations is available at local county clerks’ websites.

Denver voters will decide whether to approve Ballot Issues 2A–2E, five pieces of the city’s proposed bond package individually: transportation and mobility projects totaling $441 million; parks and recreation projects totaling $175 million; health and human services projects totaling $30 million; city infrastructure and facilities projects totaling $244 million; and housing and shelter projects totaling $59 million.

City governments regularly issue bond proposals to finance infrastructure projects by taking on debt, without raising taxes. Other recent “general obligation” bond issues in Denver included the $260 million RISE Denver bond in 2021 and the $936 million Elevate Denver bond in 2017.

The city says more than 200 individual projects will be funded through the Vibrant Denver proposal. A combined $139 million would go towards rebuilding the Sixth Avenue and Eighth Avenue viaducts adjacent to the proposed site of a new Denver Broncos stadium in Burnham Yard. Other major projects include a new $75 million combined training facility for the city’s sheriff, police and fire departments and $70 million to transform the former Park Hill Golf Club into a new city park. A full list of projects is available on the city’s website.

An issue committee registered in support of measures 2A through 2E has received more than $1 million in contributions from a long list of Denver-based businesses, according to city campaign finance records. Its top donor is former MDC Holdings executive Larry Mizel, who contributed $65,000, while the Denver Zoo, Denver Art Museum and Denver Botanic Gardens are among those that have contributed $50,000 each.

Citizens for No New Debt, a committee registered by activist Jason Bailey, had spent $3,170 in opposition to the bond package as of Oct. 10.

Question 2F was referred to the ballot by Denver City Council. It would change the name of the Department of Excise and Licensing, which issues business and professional licenses to bars, marijuana dispensaries, contractors and dozens of other kinds of businesses within Denver. The ballot measure would update the agency’s name to the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, and amend language throughout the city’s municipal code to reflect the change.

The department calls the name change “part of an effort to modernize and make it easier to understand city government agency services.” Its current name is “confusing and misleading,” it says, because the department no longer handles the collection of excise taxes.

Question 2G, referred to the ballot by Denver City Council, would change how the city elects its two at-large members, who represent the entire city alongside 11 other members elected at the district level.

Currently, all candidates for at-large council seats run in a single race, with the top two vote-getters winning the two seats. In 2023, at-large council members Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and Sarah Parady won their seats with 20% and 16% of the vote, respectively, from a field of 10 candidates.

Question 2G would significantly overhaul that process, dividing the at-large contest into separate races for “A” and “B” seats, and subjecting them to a runoff election if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.

The question was narrowly approved for the ballot by a 7-6 council vote, with Gonzales-Gutierrez, Parady and other progressive members opposed. By the same vote, council members defeated a progressive-backed proposal to put a ranked choice voting measure on the city’s 2025 ballot.

Supporters of the ballot measure, including the seven moderate council members, say the current system is confusing and allows unrepresentative candidates to win without majority support. Opponents call it an effort to target two of the council’s most progressive members.

Hands Off Denver Elections, a campaign committee formed “to reduce the influence of special interest big money,” has registered to oppose Referred Question 2G but had not reported any contributions as of Oct. 10. Its treasurer is Wynn Howell, Colorado state director of the Working Families Party.

In 2024, Denver City Council voted 11-1 to pass a ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, flavored e-cigarette cartridges and flavored pouches and chews. Critics say these products are marketed to young people and put them at risk of nicotine addiction and other health impacts.

Opponents of the ban organized a signature-gathering campaign and collected the 9,400 valid signatures required to place a veto referendum on the 2025 ballot.

A yes vote on Referendum 310 will keep the ban in place. A no vote will repeal the ban.

A committee in support of the ban, Denver Kids vs. Big Tobacco, has raised more than $2 million to encourage a yes vote on Referendum 310, according to campaign finance records. Three-quarters of that funding came from billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a longtime benefactor of anti-tobacco causes.

Citizen Power, a committee registered to oppose the ban, has received over $434,000 in contributions from donors including the Rocky Mountain Smoke Free Alliance, a vaping industry trade group, as well as tobacco giants Altria and Philip Morris.