Douglas County voters heavily oppose home-rule ballot measure in early results

A ballot measure that would give Douglas County a crack at assuming home-rule authority for the first time was trailing badly among voters Tuesday night in initial special electoral contest results circulated shortly after p m The measure was put on the ballot by leaders of the conservative county as a way of gaining more local control and potentially pushing back on what they characterize as overbearing law from Democratic state lawmakers But the first release of results Tuesday evening exhibited the measure on track to go down decisively with nearly of voters saying no and saying yes Nearly votes had been counted against Question A while fewer than were counted in favor The county clerk s office planned to update results next around p m In the mail ballot electoral process voters were urged to authorize the creation of a county charter essentially a constitution for Douglas County along with selecting a -member commission to draw up the document If it passed voters would have taken a second vote in November to approve the charter a necessary step before home-rule authority could go into effect For now Denver Broomfield Pitkin and Weld counties are the only Colorado counties with home-rule authority The campaign surrounding Douglas County s quest for home-rule authority has been anything but quiet Three county residents including state Rep Bob Marshall and former Commissioner Lora Thomas sued the Board of County Commissioners in April alleging multiple violations of Colorado s open-meetings law during the run-up to the adoption of Ballot Question A They appealed the court to stop Tuesday s ballot which was estimated to cost from going forward But a judge sided with the county in May saying he didn t see evidence that the board violated the open-meetings law and ruling that a preliminary injunction to stop the polling would sacrifice the community s right to vote The Colorado Court of Appeals also ruled against the plaintiffs last week Signs and billboards sprouted along highways and byways in Douglas County both in favor and against as the special electoral contest drew nearer and mail voting began In late May about people crowded into county chambers to ask questions about the process with the meeting devolving into a shouting match between commissioners and several audience members Forty-nine candidates vied for the charter commission seats Tuesday Opponents operating under the Stop the Power Grab banner accused the commissioners of quietly concocting the home-rule plan over a series of more than a dozen meetings starting late last year and then rubber-stamping the decision at a masses hearing in late March That meeting lasted mere minutes What this has brought out in us is the question of why now Kelly Mayr a nearly three-decade resident of Highlands Ranch and a member of Stop the Power Grab reported The Denver Post this month Why are they rushing it If this is a good idea for the county why would we not take our time Local control has factored heavily in Colorado politics in modern years with cities and counties lashing out even taking legal action against a state governing body they accuse of overreach in municipal matters Just last month six metro Denver cities Aurora Arvada Glendale Greenwood Village Lafayette and Westminster sued Gov Jared Polis in an attempt to block two land-use laws that aim to encourage the building of more housing The cities all of which are home-rule municipalities argue that the laws which seek to increase density and eliminate parking requirements near transit stops violate the provision of the Colorado Constitution that gives local governments the authority to establish their own land-use rules Related Articles As Douglas County s home-rule electoral process gets underway the battle is already red hot Here s what s at stake Judge declines to block Douglas County s home-rule voting says commissioners didn t violate open meetings law Would Douglas County s home-rule bid counter Colorado Democrats or is it the politics of defiance Commissioner George Teal one of the chief proponents of home-rule authority for the county of nearly has sold the effort as a way to give Douglas County the ability to assert its independence from a state legislature that has shifted decidedly to the left over the last decade Home-rule authority Teal and other supporters of the measure have commented would give Douglas County greater legal standing to take on state laws that they believe go too far Douglas County has sued Colorado twice in recent months over disagreements involving property tax valuations and the level of cooperation local law enforcement can give federal immigration functionaries The county lost both cases We will be an independent legal entity under state law and we are not that as a statutory county Teal stated The Post before the electoral contest Home rule is the very mechanism of local control The state legislature designed home-rule authority to have a more pedestrian purpose when it created the designation years ago allowing counties to decide their governance structure and set salaries for society personnel Despite Weld County s home-rule status the Colorado Supreme Court this year struck down a redistricting plan its leaders had put into play two years ago The justices ruled that county bureaucrats drew the boundaries of commissioners districts without adhering to a state law that required it to follow a different protocol Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot