Special election results in Colorado's Douglas County show a majority of voters don't want home rule
Special election results in Douglas County are making it clear that a majority of voters in the Colorado county do not want home rule. County commissioners said the charter would have allowed them to have more local control over issues like gun control and taxes.
With approximately 98% of the votes counted, nearly 90,000 people voted in Tuesday's special election, and of the so far about 71% said no to the proposal while almost 29% said yes.
It's a win for the community members who have been vocal about concerns that the effort was rushed and that home rule in the county would lead to court battles with the state that would cost taxpayers money.
Angela Thomas, who ran against Commissioner George Teal in his most recent race for the Douglas County commission, organized a group against home rule called Stop the Power Grab.
"I'm gobsmacked that we were able to defeat this by 70%," Thomas said. "And that was the work of Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated alike to say we aren't prepared to look at this. You've tried to push this down our throat. We're not going to do this."
On the other hand, Commissioner George Teal was disappointed that it appears the home rule proposal has failed. However, he conceded the community wanted more information and felt like the effort moved too fast.
"I was really hoping to be able to say 'Hey it's early in the night. Let's see what goes on,' but the results right now given what has been counted is pretty definitive," Teal said.
"Home rule was always about building a vision for Douglas county. That's not going to go away. That will be here next year. That will be here in 2 years," he said.
Teal is leaving the door open for another home rule attempt in the future. He said "home rule initiatives never pass on the first go."
Teal says he's committed to having conversations with the community about what they want to see and that another home rule effort could come within the next year or two.
Meanwhile, the home rule opponents say they're prepared to fight this effort again if they need to.
