A poll worker’s computer is decorated with stickers in the UMC voting center on Election Day, Nov. 4, 2025. (Sagan Randall/CU Independent)
Voters in Boulder County re-elected three former and one new city council member on Tuesday in a race with 11 candidates, according to unofficial election results. With no citizen initiated ballot measures to spark contention, voters approved three city-sponsored ballot measures extending and implementing taxes funding services across the county, as well as two state measures.
Students at the University of Colorado Boulder had the option to mail in ballots, vote in person at the University Memorial Center or at another Boulder voting location until 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Mail-in ballots were received starting on Oct. 10, but many voters showed up to vote in person on Election Day.
Local elections often have lower turnouts, especially in odd-year elections. 119,586 votes were tallied as of Nov. 5, compiling only 46.9% of registered voters in Boulder County.
Students at CU Boulder make up almost 30% of the City of Boulder’s population, enough to sway local elections and city measures.
Matt Benjamin, incumbent candidate and CU Boulder alumnus, was present at the UMC Fountain Court garnering support from students passing by.
Portrait of incumbent City Council candidate Matt Benjamin in front of the UMC on Election Day, Nov. 4, 2025. (Sagan Randall/CU Independent)
“[Students] vote later in the process,” Benjamin said, explaining why CU Boulder is “the best place to get folks to just turn out and vote” on the last day that the polling stations are open.
“We have 30,000 students. This town has 107,000 people,” Benjamin said. “Imagine if students exercised their will, and their vote and their desire on issues locally.”
Although students can impact local election results, turnout among university voters remains relatively limited.
“Nobody on campus knows who’s in the city council,” said Karl Lapham, Boulder regional organizer with New Era Colorado, a youth civic engagement organization. “So they don’t feel a whole lot of stake in voting for them.”
The students who did show up however, expressed the importance of engaging with politics, even at the local level. CU graduate student Kathleen Donlan visited the voting center at the UMC on Election Day to cast her ballot.
“It’s important to show up and have your voice be heard,” Donlan said.
She highlighted the importance of voting in local elections describing American democracy as being in a “critical moment.”
City Council
With 11 candidates competing for four open council seats, many took to the streets campaigning in the days leading up to the election. On Election Day, Benjamin was joined by incumbent candidates Lauren Folkerts and Nicole Speer outside the UMC Fountain Court at CU Boulder.
Speer, Benjamin and Mark Wallach all won their re-election campaigns, along with challenger Rob Kaplan. A final count is scheduled for Nov. 13, which may change vote totals but is unlikely to affect the overall outcomes.
Prior to personal campaigning, Speer and Folkerts were on campus attending a United Campus Workers rally, advocating for collective bargaining.
“This year, our union endorsed candidates, Lauren Folkerts, myself, Rachel Isaacson and Maxwell Lord, are on your ballot,” Speer said.
Speer addressed the rally saying they’ve been endorsed by the union “because we’ve stood up for workers.”
Speer said that she came to CU Boulder campus on Election Day for both the rally and the environment.
“I really love the energy on campus on Election Day,” Speer said. “It’s just fun.”
Speer said that she, along with other council members, have been trying to “build better relationships between students and the city,” to make sure student voices are represented in city decisions.
Benjamin shared a similar attitude about the importance of young voters.
“It’s really essential for students – whether you’re 18 or just graduating college – to really exercise your vote,” Benjamin said. “That’s your chance to steer this country, your state, county, or in this case, your city, in a direction that you want it to go.”
Benjamin, Wallach and Speer, in that order, received the most votes, securing their seats on the council for the next three years. Council members typically serve four-year terms, however Boulder County is switching to even-year elections in 2026, leaving the 2023 and 2025 elected candidates serving three-year terms.
Kaplan received the fourth highest number of votes, making him the only newly elected member to serve on the council.
Kaplan serves on the Parks and Recreation Board and moved to Boulder in 1993, bringing with him a passion for the city’s community and environment. He previously worked with the Fire Department for 18 years, and hopes to bring his expertise in fire and safety to the council.
Candidates Rob Smoke and Aaron Stone, who campaigned on a platform largely based on divestment of city funds from companies with ties to Israel, were unable to garner enough votes to win a spot on the council. Revisiting the City’s investment portfolio has been a hotspot for debate at city council meetings since the War in Gaza began.
Johanna Lee, a junior at CU Boulder, said she cared more about voting for city council members than ballot measures.
“I feel like city council members are important just for local issues,” Lee said. “I haven’t lived here that long, but I would like to be involved in some way.”
She described most of the candidates as “on the same page,” when it came to their stances on city issues, making it easier for her to choose who she supported.
A woman submits her ballot in the UMC voting center on Election Day, Nov. 4, 2025. (Sagan Randall/CU Independent)
Ballot Measures
Voters in Boulder County passed all three local ballot measures, approving sales taxes to help fund the needs of the community.
The Community, Culture, Resilience and Safety tax, set to expire at the end of 2026, will now be a permanent 0.3 cent tax to help fund capital projects such as construction and renovations in the city of Boulder.
A 0.15% countywide tax that funds the county’s acquisition, maintenance and improvement of open spaces in Boulder County also became permanent.
A new three-year Mental and Behavioral Health Tax of 0.15% will generate funds to help for provide mental health crisis and substance use disorder services. This tax is expected to generate $13.8 million in 2026.
State-wide ballot measures LL and MM were also important to local voters like Tristan Boton, a senior at CU.
Proposition LL, approved by 65.8% of voters, allows the state to keep and spend $12.4 million in excess taxes to fund the Healthy School Meals for All program. This provides free breakfast and lunch to schoolchildren across the state.
Proposition MM, approved by 59.3% of voters, increases the funding for the Healthy School Meals for All program by raising taxes on those with a household income of $300,000 or more.
Boton, a physics major at CU, said that with the U.S. being the richest country in the world, children should have access to free meals.
“I was on a free and reduced meal plan,” said Boton. “I think having that for all children is pretty great. I don’t like children going hungry.”
While Boton felt he had no control over national politics, he said he could participate in local politics with minimal effort.
At a time when many Americans feel powerless against the weight of national politics, the need to vote on what they can control seems to be a common importance.
A Boulder County ballot drop box stationed outside the University Memorial Center, Oct. 7, 2025. (Sagan Randall/CU Independent)
“Students, or young people in general across the States feel super disenfranchised in voting in federal elections,” said Lapham. “Most of the local elections are decided by less than 500 votes. So they have an opportunity to feel less disenfranchised by voting in local elections.”
While many students were unaware of the local politics on the ballot this year, Colorado voting laws allowing for same day registration combined with an in-person voting center on CU Boulder’s campus help increase voter turnout.
“I can’t control the way [the 2024 federal election] went, but I can control my local community,” Boton said. “The least I could do is vote.”
Contact CU Independent Assistant News Editor Camryn Montgomery at camryn.montgomery@colorado.edu
Contact CU Independent Assistant News Editor Avery Clifton at avery.clifton@colorado.edu
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer and Photographer Sagan Randall at sagan.randall@colorado.edu
