Three Consecutive Terms for the 17th Judicial District Attorney

Adams County and the City and County of Broomfield make up the 17th Judicial District, and their voters elect one district attorney to a four-year term. Article XVIII, Section 11 of the Colorado Constitution, adopted by initiative, sets a default limit of two consecutive terms for nonjudicial elected offices in political subdivisions when each term is longer than two years; for terms of two years or less, the default limit is three consecutive terms. The limits count terms beginning on or after January 1, 1995. The section treats two terms less than four years apart as consecutive. State election law declares that district attorneys are subject to that limit and that judicial districts are political subdivisions.

Under subsection (2) of that section, the voters of a political subdivision may lengthen, shorten or eliminate the limit, and Question 7E lengthens it: a yes vote limits the district attorney to "no more than three consecutive terms of office." A no vote keeps the two-term limit. The question calls three terms "consistent with other county offices in Adams County and the City and County of Broomfield."

District Attorney Brian Mason asked Broomfield City Council to put the question to voters, according to the council's staff memo, and the Adams County commissioners' resolution says it refers the question "at the request of the District Attorney." Broomfield City Council adopted Resolution No. 2026-85 by a 10-0 vote on August 11, 2026. The Adams County Board of County Commissioners approved its resolution on the consent calendar on August 25, 2026, by a 4-0 vote.

Broomfield's memo lists two earlier referrals of a similar question, Resolution No. 2011-102 in June 2011 and Resolution No. 2024-75 in August 2024, and says that each time "the voters did not vote in favor of the change."

Adams County's staff report estimates $640,000 "to put this item on the ballot," and under the county's resolution, the county pays the cost of the election from its general fund. The question sets no tax, fee or spending.

State law requires the question to appear on the ballot of every county in the judicial district at the same election, in substantially identical wording and under an identical designation; a measure not referred to the voters of every county at the same election, or not substantially identical in wording, is void. Each county clerk certifies the votes for and against to the secretary of state, who compiles the district-wide results. C.R.S. 1-4-1404(3) also requires approval in each county: a district-wide majority alone cannot carry the measure if either Adams County or Broomfield rejects it. Both referring resolutions state that the question must be approved by the voters of both Adams County and Broomfield.