Douglas County Ballot Question 1A: countywide election of all commissioners on a five-member board

Voters across Douglas County elect all three commissioners, though each must live in a separate district, the county says. Question 1A asks whether registered voters countywide should continue to elect all the commissioners of a five-member board. The commissioners referred it unanimously on August 31, 2026, in Resolution R-026-062.

Colorado Politics wrote that petition supporters argue the current system "allows large population centers to dictate countywide representation, leaving smaller communities without a representative directly accountable to those communities."

Question 200 asks whether to expand the board to five members. Rejecting it would leave the three-member board and its election method unchanged. Under the county's cost analysis, an expanded board would first sit in 2029.

Question 1A and either option under Question 201 specify different election methods. Question 201 offers five commissioners each chosen only by their district's voters, or three chosen that way and two elected countywide. If 1A and a district method both pass, the choice with the larger vote wins, George Teal, the board's chair, told Axios Douglas County.

At the September 4 hearing on a protest seeking to remove 1A from the ballot, Commissioner Teal asked whether to amend 1A to clarify residency requirements; the other two commissioners declined, and the protest failed 2 to 1, Colorado Politics reported. State Rep. Bob Marshall, who brought the protest, then sued, arguing that the state law on expanding county boards requires voters to be offered at least two election methods. Judge Victoria Klingensmith said 1A's wording does not track that requirement but held that she could not rule on it before the election; the county's lawyers said an adopted 1A could be challenged afterward, the Colorado Times Recorder reported.