The 2025 elections are just around the corner. While there are no federal races or state leadership positions on the ballot this year, voters in Northern Colorado will still have several important local decisions to make.
Here’s a look at some of the ballot measures and local elections that will be decided on Nov. 4.
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Fort Collins
Fort Collins Mayor
The Fort Collins mayoral race is a new slate for the city with incumbent Jeni Arndt not running for a third term. Arndt has served as mayor since 2021. The field is made up of seven candidates. A new mayor will be selected through ranked choice voting.
Who's on the ballot:
City council member Tricia Canonico represents District 3. Adam Eggleston is a small business owner. City council member Emily Frances represents District 6 and serves as mayor pro-tem. Adam Hirschhorn is a community advocate. Shirley Peel formerly served on city council. Jeffery Shumway is an Air Force veteran and former police officer. Scott VanTatenhove is a teacher in the Poudre School District.
Ballot Question 2H
Fort Collins city council referred 2H to the ballot on recommendations from the Civic Assembly. A group of community members tasked with working with the public on a plan for the former Hughes stadium site. 2H would allow for multi-use development, including a bike park and wildlife conservation and rehabilitation center. About a third of the site could be designated as a natural area. The measure also includes a requirement that the city consult with Native American tribes and the Indigenous community on use and management. Existing uses like disc golf and sledding "may" be included.
Ballot Question 303
This citizen-initiative asks voters to preserve the entire Hughes site as a natural area. 303 favors low-impact use of the land and preserving it as open space. Activities like mountain biking, sledding, and disc golf would still be allowed. The citizen group behind this measure collected enough signatures to get it on the ballot
Background: Fort Collins bought the Hughes site from Colorado State University in 2021and rezoned it as "public open space." The city's Civic Assembly was established last year to work on a plan for the site based primarily on community engagement. The assembly delivered a plan to the city council earlier this year.
How it works at the ballot box: If both measures get approved by more than 50% of voters, the measure with more "yes" votes prevails. If neither 2H or 303 gets 50% of the vote, the city council would have the authority to decide what happens to the Hughes site. City leaders have already endorsed the Civic Assembly's multi-use recommendations.
Boulder
Ballot Questions
In Boulder County, voters are considering two ballot measures tied to sales and use tax. Ballot Issue 1A is asking to permanently extend an existing 0.15% countywide tax to support open space management. The tax is set to expire at the end of 2030. It supports city efforts to acquire, improve, maintain and manage open space lands. That includes agricultural open space.
Ballot Issue 1B is seeking the creation of a new sales and use tax to help fund mental and behavioral health resources. Revenue from the 0.15% tax could be applied to substance use prevention and treatment programs, unhoused services, and crisis response.
Another tax question: The city of Boulder is asking voters if they want to make an existing 0.3% sales tax permanent, which funds infrastructure improvements, trail maintenance, and construction projects. Ballot Question 2A & 2B builds off the voter approved tax in 2014, which was extended in 2017 and 2021.
Denver
Denver’s Referendum 310:
Denver voters will decide whether the city will ban flavored tobacco products with one of the city’s ballot measures this year, Referendum 310.
The city council approved an ordinance last year banning flavored tobacco products within city limits, but opponents of the ban collected enough signatures to put the policy on the ballot. If voters approve the ballot measure, the ordinance will stay in place and the products will be banned. If voters reject the measure, the ordinance will be repealed.
A “yes” vote supports the ban on flavored tobacco, while a “no” vote opposes it.Supporters of the ban argue that flavored nicotine products target young people and see them as a public health issue. Opponents claim a ban will harm the city’s small businesses.
Statewide
Coloradans will weigh in on a pair of statewide ballot measures this year: Propositions LL and MM. The two companion measures would work together to fully fund the state’s free school meals program by raising taxes on certain Coloradans.
Proposition MM:
Colorado’s universal school meals program, called Healthy School Meals for All, was approved by voters in 2022, but since then, the program has seen higher-than-expected demand and the state has not been able to fully fund it.
If approved by voters, Proposition MM would raise the money needed to fully fund the Healthy School Meals for All program, according to its backers. The measure would also let Colorado use any leftover dollars raised for the school meals program to cover its share of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, after Congress cut funding for it this summer as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
To generate the money, Proposition MM would essentially increase taxes on Coloradans earning $300,000 per year by reducing their deductions. On average, wealthier Coloradans would pay an average of $486 annually in taxes. A similar mechanism was used to fund the Health School Meals for All program when it was originally approved.
A longer explanation of Proposition MM can be found here.
Proposition LL:
Proposition LL would allow the state to retain and use all the revenue it has collected for the school meals program and will collect under Proposition MM.
Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR, requires voter approval for any new taxes and for spending of excess tax revenue. Since the Healthy School Meals for All Program was launched, the state has generated more revenue for the program than originally predicted by about $12 million. If approved, Proposition LL would allow the state to use that excess revenue and allow the state to keep and use all of the money it collects under Proposition MM.
A longer explanation of Proposition LL can be found here.
