Aurora city elections in even-numbered years

Question 3D amends Article 2-4 of Aurora's charter to move the city's regular municipal election from the first Tuesday in November of odd-numbered years to even-numbered years, beginning in 2030, so the mayor and City Council appear on the same ballot as state and federal races. Special elections and polling hours stay as they are. City races remain nonpartisan, and the standard term stays four years.

Aurora elects its council in two halves. One election chooses the mayor, two at-large members and the members for Wards IV, V and VI; the next chooses the members for Wards I, II and III and the other two at-large members. To bring both halves onto even years, the amendment to Article 3-5 gives anyone elected in 2027 or 2029 a three-year term. Council members now in office keep their current terms, Sentinel Colorado reported, but a member reelected in 2027 or 2029 serves the shorter term.

The amendment also strikes "four-year" from the term limit, which then reads three consecutive terms of office, so a three-year term counts toward the limit. For a seat filled under the charter's vacancy section, the charter now sets a two-year term at the next election where election timing requires it; the amendment instead lets that term be adjusted, including shortened to two years, to keep the seats staggered.

City staff told the council that even-year elections cost Aurora more, because Arapahoe County typically runs about 25 more voter centers in midterm years than in odd years. The city paid $300,504.68 to coordinate its 2022 election and $121,285.73 in 2024, with one ballot question each year, and $71,903.04 in 2025 for five council seats and five questions.

Voters cast about 151,400 votes on a citywide measure in 2024, Sentinel Colorado reported. In 2025, the city's five citywide ballot questions drew between 76,471 and 78,900 votes, according to the city's official results.

Council Member Alli Jackson sponsored Ordinance 2026-41, which the council passed on August 10 by six votes to four, with Mayor Mike Coffman abstaining. Jackson told Sentinel Colorado she hoped to improve participation in elections. Council Member Stephanie Hancock, who voted no, said local races "tend to get lost in the sauce" on long ballots; she and Coffman also raised concerns about national politics reaching nonpartisan races. Council Member Angela Lawson said she was not necessarily opposed to even-year elections but objected to placing the question on the same ballot as the city's sales tax questions.