Your Parker ballot is on the way. Here are the races, tax questions and deadlines that matter.

Ballots for Colorado’s Nov. 3 general election begin mailing to Douglas County voters Friday, Oct. 2. Parker residents will choose three Town Council members and weigh a $54 million Douglas County School District mill levy override, three questions about the size and election of the County Commission, and 14 statewide measures.

Ballot styles vary by residential address. Federal, legislative, judicial and special-district contests may differ, so use your own ballot as the final list of races and questions you are eligible to vote on.

This guide is a nonpartisan summary. It does not recommend a candidate or a position on any ballot question.

Parker Town Council: five candidates, three seats

Parker voters may select up to three candidates for four-year, at-large council terms. The candidates will appear in this order:

• Kristin Williams
• Erik Frandsen
• Johnnie Turnidge
• Brandi Wilks
• Anne Barrington

The mayor is not on this year’s ballot. Parker’s municipal election is nonpartisan, and the town does not use council districts.

Source: Town of Parker 2026 election information and Town election announcement. Source date: Oct. 2, 2026.

DCSD Ballot Issue 5A: a $54 million mill levy override

Ballot Issue 5A asks voters to approve a $54 million annual property-tax increase for Douglas County School District beginning with 2027 collections. The measure is indexed, meaning collections can adjust over time within the limit established by state law.

The ballot language directs the money toward:

• Teacher and staff recruitment, retention and compensation
• School security, including school resource officers
• Reducing waitlists for career and technical education, including trades programs
• Restoring programs such as elementary instrumental music

The measure also requires an annual independent audit and citizen-committee oversight. DCSD estimates the first-year cost at about $33.70 annually for each $100,000 of home value, or $236 for a $700,000 home.

Source: DCSD official 5A ballot language, DCSD taxpayer cost estimate and Douglas County composite sample ballot. Source date: Oct. 2, 2026.

Three county questions could change the Board of Commissioners

Douglas County voters will see three related questions:

Ballot Question 200

Question 200 asks whether the Board of County Commissioners should grow from three members to five. The ballot lists an estimated continuing annual cost of $760,000 to $1.3 million.

Ballot Question 201

If the board expands, Question 201 asks voters to choose between two election structures: five commissioners elected only by voters in their respective districts, or three district commissioners plus two commissioners elected countywide.

Ballot Question 1A

Question 1A asks whether all Douglas County voters should continue electing every commissioner if the board expands to five members.

The questions are connected, so read all three before marking any of them.

Source: Douglas County 2026 composite sample ballot. Source date: Oct. 2, 2026.

Fourteen statewide measures

Colorado voters will decide seven constitutional amendments and seven statutory propositions. Constitutional amendments generally require 55% approval; statutory propositions require a simple majority.

Amendment 81: Immigration notifications

Would require law enforcement to notify the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after certain criminal charges when officers cannot confirm that the person is lawfully present in the country.

Amendment 82: Natural gas

Would create a constitutional right for consumers to purchase natural gas for homes and businesses and for utilities and distributors to sell it.

Amendment 83: Hunting and fishing

Would establish a constitutional right to hunt and fish and identify hunting and fishing as preferred methods of managing wildlife populations, subject to state regulation.

Amendment 84: Identification with mail ballots

Would require voters to place both a signature and specified identification information on the outside of mail-ballot envelopes for federal and state elections.

Amendment 85: Plain-language ballot titles

Would require state and local ballot questions to be written at no more than an eighth-grade reading level.

Amendment 86: Congressional redistricting

Would add requirements for changing congressional maps outside the normal once-a-decade redistricting process, including public meetings and approval by the independent commission and Colorado Supreme Court.

Amendment 87: Graduated income tax

Would replace Colorado’s flat income-tax rate with graduated rates, reduce average taxes for income categories below $1 million, increase them above $1 million and direct additional revenue to education, health care and early-childhood programs. The ballot estimates a $2.7 billion annual state tax increase.

Proposition NN: State education spending

Would allow the state to retain revenue above the current constitutional spending limit and increase K-12 education spending by 2% annually for 10 years. It does not raise tax rates; under current estimates, it would reduce or eliminate TABOR refunds in affected years.

Proposition 132: Fentanyl penalties

Would increase penalties for certain fentanyl and synthetic-opioid crimes, narrow some sentencing exemptions and create mandatory treatment for some possession offenses.

Proposition 133: Human trafficking of a minor

Would expand the definition of human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude and increase the penalty to life in prison without parole or release.

Proposition 134: School and college sports

Would restrict participation in K-12 and collegiate sports according to sex as defined in the measure, with an exception allowing a female athlete to join a male-designated team when no female team is available.

Proposition 135: Surgery on minors

Would prohibit surgery on minors for the purpose of altering biological sex characteristics and prohibit public funds, Medicaid reimbursement and insurance coverage from paying for those procedures.

Proposition 136: Income-tax rate limit

Would set 4.4% as the maximum state income-tax rate for individuals and corporations. It would not change the current rate.

Proposition 137: Conservation funding

Would allow the state to retain and direct part of existing sales-tax revenue from sporting-goods purchases and rentals toward water, land, forest, wildfire-prevention and outdoor-recreation programs.

Source: Colorado Legislative Council 2026 Blue Book and Douglas County composite sample ballot. Source date: Oct. 2, 2026.

Other races on Parker ballots

Ballots also include candidates for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor and lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general, the state legislature and Douglas County offices. Judicial retention questions are included as well.

The exact congressional, state legislative and special-district contests depend on a voter’s address. Douglas County’s composite sample ballot includes every contest in the county; an individual ballot includes only the contests for that voter.

Source: Douglas County On the Ballot guide. Source date: Oct. 2, 2026.

Dates voters need

• Oct. 2: Ballots begin mailing and 24-hour drop boxes open.
• Oct. 19: Voter Service and Polling Centers begin opening in phases.
• Oct. 26: Last day to request that a ballot be mailed to you.
• Nov. 3: Election Day. Ballots must reach a drop box, Voter Service and Polling Center or the Elections Office by 7 p.m. A postmark does not count.
• Nov. 12: Deadline to cure a signature or identification problem by 11:59 p.m.

Source: Douglas County election-ready checklist. Source date: Oct. 2, 2026.

Five 24-hour ballot boxes in Parker

• Challenger Park, 17299 Lincoln Ave.
• EchoPark Stadium, 11901 Newlin Gulch Blvd.
• Parker Police Department, 18600 Lincoln Meadows Parkway
• Parker Town Center, 20118 E. Mainstreet
• Parker Water and Sanitation District Office, 13939 Ancestry Drive

Voters can verify registration, update an address and view their individual information through GoVoteColorado.gov.

Source: Town of Parker election announcement and Douglas County election information. Source date: Oct. 2, 2026.