Key races and ballot measures

Amendment 81 will permanently amend the Colorado Constitution and override current state laws limiting ICE authority in Colorado. Don’t open the door for all Coloradans, including citizens, to be targeted by ICE based on how they look or talk.

Learn more at Colorado Communities First

Amendment 82 is an intentionally misleading measure that was put on the ballot by a network of out-of-state special interests to lock a permanent new "right" for corporate polluters into our constitution.

82 will handcuff Colorado's ability to hold these polluters accountable, and give them a powerful new tool to overturn our commonsense rules that limit toxic water pollution and methane gas fracking near our homes and schools.

Learn more at No Pollution in the Constitution

Amendment 83 is a dangerous measure that upends decision-making by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, repeals limits on inhumane and unsporting practices approved by voters and the state wildlife commission, and sidelines state lawmakers and wildlife professionals.

Learn more at Colorado Hunters and Anglers for Sensible Wildlife Conservation and Keep Colorado's Voice.

Amendment 84 would require mail voters to verify their identity by writing either the last four digits of their Social Security number or their full driver's license or state ID number on their ballot envelope. Colorado voters already provide this exact information when they register, and the state already verifies it against DMV and Social Security records. This new requirement would only turn your ballot into a flashing target for identity thieves.

Learn more at Defend Our Ballots.

Amendment 85 would require that ballot questions be written at an “8th grade reading level” and prohibit other language from being added. This measure’s intent is to prohibit future efforts to make sure voters understand the stakes of ballot initiatives.

Read more at The Bell Policy Center.

Republicans around the country are trying to undermine the will of voters by redrawing Congressional districts in their favor in states where they have control. Democratic states like California have been pushing back on this by balancing it with districts of their own. Republicans won’t respect democracy unless they’re forced to, when they see their efforts to undermine it backfiring.

Colorado could do the same in 2028. This measure was placed on the ballot by a conservative dark money group to prevent that.

Read more in our Ballot Measures Guide.

Under our current state tax code, nurses, teachers, working families, and small businesses pay the exact same income tax rate as millionaires and giant corporations. That’s not right, and it’s why Colorado’s education, health care, and child care budgets keep getting cut.

Amendment 87, the Income Tax Fairness Act, is a tax cut for 97% of Colorado taxpayers including seniors, veterans, and most small businesses and local restaurants.

Learn more at Protect Colorado’s Future.

When kids have passionate, qualified teachers in the classroom, they achieve more. Right now, Colorado’s public schools are chronically underfunded by $4,600 per student annually. Colorado ranks 43rd in the country in school funding. This means overcrowded classrooms as passionate and qualified educators leave the profession. Many never become teachers in the first place. Ultimately, Colorado kids pay the price. 

Why is Colorado underfunding education so severely? The state’s TABOR revenue cap, first set in 1992, is holding Colorado back from investing needed resources into classrooms – even when it has already collected the tax revenue to do so. Meanwhile, the state’s population, economy, and student needs continue to grow, leaving our schools unable to keep up. 

Proposition NN will give schools the resources they need to make sure Colorado students can succeed, putting billions of dollars into our public schools for better teacher pay, more one-on-one attention, and career training.

Learn more at Yes on NN for Colorado Kids.

Proposition 132 would:

• Make any amount of fentanyl possession a felony, even first-time cases.

• Punish a person sharing even one pill with the same mandatory 8 to 32-year prison sentence as the highest-level drug trafficker.

• Require mandatory sentences even if the person didn’t know fentanyl was present & no money was exchanged.

Even worse, Colorado taxpayers are on the hook for the over $400 million for new prison space and the cost of keeping people there.

Learn more at the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.

This ballot measure would require life in prison without parole or release for persons convicted of human trafficking a child for sexual servitude.

As of 2026, the crime human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude was defined as:

• Selling or otherwise knowingly facilitating the commercial sexual activity involving a person under age 18 or

• Knowingly advertising, offering, or selling travel services that facilitate commercial sexual activity involving a person under age 18.

The ballot initiative would add a third element to this definition: knowingly exchanging anything of monetary value to buy or sell sexual activity with a person under age 18.

Learn more at our Ballot Measures Guide.

Proposition 134 puts kids in harm's way. This measure takes decisions away from parents, schools, and athletic experts and hands them to the government. It’s so poorly written that any girl could face an invasive gender check if she’s accused of being transgender. And with no appeals process, parents and families are left powerless to stop these invasive checks.

Learn more at Families not Politics.

Proposition 135 is a threat to family rights. This measure takes healthcare decisions out of parents’ and doctors’ hands, with no way to appeal if the government gets it wrong. This measure could also interfere with medically necessary care for serious conditions that affect kids well beyond transgender youth.

Learn more at Families not Politics.

This measure would lock in our current unfair tax system, where lower- and middle-income Coloradans pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than the wealthy. This measure is only meaningful because it conflicts with the graduated income tax that is proposed in Amendment 87. The tax rate is already 4.4 percent and the constitution states that only a vote of the people can increase tax rates. Its only purpose is to confuse voters and stop the tax rate changes in Amendment 87 from going into effect.

Learn more at The Bell Policy Center.

Passing Proposition 137 would use tax revenue collected from sales and rentals on certain sporting goods or recreation-related items for the following:

• 47.5% to Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund (about $83 million first year)

• 47.5% to Colorado Wildfire Prevention & Water Fund (about $83 million first year)

• 2.5% to Outdoor Equity Fund (about $8.7 million first year)

• 2.5% to Outdoor Recreation Economic Development Cash Fund (about $8.7 million first year)

Learn more at Protect Colorado’s Land, Communities, and Tax Dollars.