DougCo's choose-your-own-adventure commissioner fight

DougCo's choose-your-own-adventure commissioner fight

Your ballot will ask whether Douglas County should go from three commissioners to five this November.

Yes, but: That simple question won't come close to capturing the messy fight that put it there.

Why it matters: The decision goes beyond DougCo's commissioner mix.

  • It's a battle over changing demographics and how county leaders get elected in one of Colorado's longtime Republican strongholds.

    • Most of the drama has unfolded just this past month, turning a citizen initiative into three connected ballot choices, two formal challenges and a court case.

    Zoom in: You won't see just a yes-or-no question Nov. 3.

  • First, you'll decide whether to expand the board.
  • Regardless of how you vote on expansion, you'll then choose how five commissioners would be elected: all by district, or three by district and two countywide
  • A separate county-backed question asks whether all five should instead be elected countywide.

    • Caveat: If the board expands and multiple election methods pass, the option with the highest raw vote total wins.

    Catch up quick: 3-to-5 is Douglas County's first citizen initiative since 1994.

  • Organizers submitted more than 20,000 valid signatures this summer to put the issue before voters.

    • Then things got complicated.

    Between the lines: Commissioner Abe Laydon this month called 3-to-5 supporters "extreme left socialists" and argued expansion would help people seeking to make DougCo more like Denver.

  • "[Y]ou don't solve problems by adding politicians," he added.

    • The other side: 3-to-5 leader Angela Thomas tells me her group checked 17,000 petition signatures and found 25% came from Republicans, nearly 30% from Democrats and the rest from unaffiliated voters.

  • "It's all about people having a voice," Thomas says.

    • Commissioners last month added language warning expansion could cost $760,000–$1.3 million annually and put their own at-large question on the ballot.

  • 3-to-5 supporters put that closer to $500,000.

    • Behind the scenes: Organizers challenged both moves, but commissioners rejected both challenges.

  • Expansion backers say commissioners are muddying the ballot.
  • One packed hearing got so testy that deputies escorted several vocal spectators from the room.
  • Democratic state Rep. Bob Marshall sued last week over changes to the citizen initiative and the competing question.

    • The latest: A judge declined to block either disputed ballot move. Marshall has asked her to reconsider.

  • Clerk Sheri Davis says ballots can't change now. The judge asked both sides whether other fixes remain.

    • Boulder County faces a similar 3-to-5 initiative, but commissioners there certified that language as it was submitted.

    What's next: DougCo ballots start going out Oct. 2.

  • If voters approve expansion, the five-member commission would get seated in 2029.
  • 3-to-5 backers plan several public sessions beginning later this month.