Live election results: How Denver's ballot measures are faring
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Denver voters navigated the longest ballot in the city's history this election, weighing a dozen local measures that ranged from tax increases for affordable housing to expanded animal rights initiatives.
As of 5pm Wednesday, here's where each measure stood, based on preliminary results from the Denver Elections Division:
🏥 Denver Health funding (2Q): Winning with 57% in favor and 43% against.
- This measure proposes a 0.34% local sales tax increase to raise $70 million annually for the operational needs of Denver Health, the city's safety net hospital.
🏘️ Affordable housing funding (2R): Losing with 48% in favor and 52% against.
- Denver Mayor Mike Johnston pushed this proposal, which aims to raise the local sales tax by 0.5% to generate $100 million annually for affordable housing projects.
✊🏿 Human rights office (2S): Winning with 64% in favor and 36% against.
- Approval would establish Denver's Agency for Human Rights and Community Partnerships as a charter agency and add its executive director to the mayor's Cabinet.
👮🏻♀️ Citizenship requirement for police and firefighters (2T): Winning with 51% in favor and 49% against.
- This measure, proposed by the Denver City Council, would allow non-U.S. citizens to serve as police officers and firefighters in the city.
👷🏽♂️ Collective bargaining (2U): Winning with 64% in favor and 36% against.
- Approval would extend collective bargaining rights to nearly all city employees.
👩🏼🚒 Firefighters collective bargaining (2V): Winning with 66% in favor and 34% against.
- This measure would ensure binding arbitration for firefighters during collective bargaining disputes.
💰 Elected officials' salaries (2W): Winning with 61% in favor and 39% against.
- This measure would change how elected officials, including the mayor and City Council members, get raises.
❌ Fur ban (Ordinance 308): Losing with 42% in favor and 58% against.
- This ordinance would prohibit the sale and manufacturing of new animal fur products in Denver.
🥩 Slaughterhouse ban (Ordinance 309): Losing with 35% in favor and 65% against.
- If approved, this measure would close the city's sole slaughterhouse and bar new facilities from opening, beginning in 2026.
🍎 Denver Public Schools bond (4A): Winning with 74% in favor and 26% against.
- This initiative calls for $975 million in bonds to repair and maintain 154 Denver Public Schools facilities.
🏙️ Downtown development (6A): Winning with 81% in favor and 19% against.
- This measure — which was only on the ballots of Denver voters who live and own businesses around downtown — would expand the Denver Downtown Development Authority's boundaries to include more properties for tax collection purposes.
🚍 Regional Transportation District (7A): Winning with 79% in favor and 21% against.
- This measure would allow RTD to permanently keep all sales tax revenue that would otherwise be refunded to Coloradans through the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR).
Editor's note: This story has been updated with new details throughout.