NEWS

Every seat in Division 5 of the Douglas County courthouse was full a half hour before the hearing, leaving a few people sitting on the floor. Many of them spent the spring gathering signatures for the petition the hearing was about. None of the three commissioners, each named as a defendant in the suit, attended.

Parker deserves a stronger, more consistent voice in the county decisions that shape its future. The current three-commissioner structure concentrates significant authority in too few hands and leaves communities like Parker with limited recourse when their interests are at stake...

In a hearing on September 11th, Marshall’s requests for relief were denied, but not based on their merits. Here's what happened...

Douglas County’s Republican commissioners are facing a threat to their currently absolute power. So you can’t blame the guys for pulling out all the stops to block it.

Rep. Bob Marshall has filed a lawsuit to restore the original petition language for the citizen-led 3 to 5 initiative to the Douglas County ballot and to remove the commissioners' conflicting question. A hearing is set for Friday, September 11 at 1:30 PM in Courtroom 5 of the Douglas County Courthouse.

Douglas County’s Republican commissioners are facing a threat to their currently absolute power. So you can’t blame the guys for pulling out all the stops to block it.

Colorado Politics September 3, 2026 This is an excerpt from the complete article. Douglas County commissioners denied a challenge Thursday to the language of a ballot initiative that would expand the board from three to five members. Following a contentious hearing that saw multiple audience members escorted out by police for disruptions, commissioners concluded that the challengers “failed to demonstrate that the ballot title does not meet the requirements” of state law. T

In public comment, Douglas County residents expressed concern about language the commissioners added to the original citizen-led petition and a second, conflicting measure approved by the Board.

Proponents of the 3-to-5 initiative file formal protest of the ballot title the Board set for a measure about its own size, citing an inflated cost figure, a tax-cut statute the Board itself said does not apply, and a process in which the Board judges its own work. Read More...

Voting yes to increase the number of Douglas County Commissioners from 3 to 5 means better representation and ensures balance and transparency in decision-making and financial stewardship. Consider a family member or friend with a complicated medical decision to make. Having a panel of five doctors discussing their difficult case will yield a better result than a panel of three. A majority decision of three specialists might consist of two people trained similarly and one

Organizers began collecting signatures in March, pushing a two-part proposal: first, whether the county should grow its governing board from three commissioners to five; and second, if voters say yes to expansion, how those additional seats should be filled. That second question offers a choice between a fully district-based system, where each of the five commissioners represents a distinct geographic area, or a hybrid model pairing three district seats with two at-large posi

On a three-member board, it takes only two votes and those two votes can do almost anything they want. Two. Where the road goes: two votes. What the budget funds: two votes. How a piece of land gets used, what gets built next to your subdivision, whether a project lives or dies: two votes. ... This November, you get to fix it, and I am going to vote yes. But I owe you more than a yes. I owe you both of my reasons —

The certification marks the culmination of a months-long campaign organized by supporters of the 3 to 5 Initiative, a grassroots effort that relied on more than 150 volunteers.

The petition phase is over. Douglas County Clerk and Recorder has certified the 3 to 5 DougCo initiative for the November ballot. Starting today, we are asking Douglas County voters to vote yes in November.

A couple dozen volunteers in matching “Ask me about 5” shirts stood outside the Douglas County clerk’s office Friday morning, just after they turned in the boxes they’d spent months filling. Inside were 578 petitions...

Every one of those signatures started as a conversation. Someone stood outside a library, a farmers market, a grocery store, or a neighbor's front door and asked for five minutes. Thousands of people in Douglas County said yes.

A bipartisan volunteer campaign must gather 15,046 verified signatures by Aug. 1 to put commission expansion on the November ballot. Rep. Bob Marshall calls the state's 8% signature threshold an incumbent protection racket.

"The fourth quarter is here, and we have 13 days to get it done," said 3 To 5 organizer Angela Thomas. She told Denver7's Douglas County Reporter Tyler Melito that they need a little more than 15,000 verified signatures to get the measure added to the ballot in November. Currently, Thomas said they are at a little more than 11,000. "We have 13 days to finish up to reach around 18,000," Thomas explained. "We need 15,040 verified signatures, but we're going for about 20% mor

After 22 years of living, voting, and paying taxes in Douglas County, I’ve seen our community grow rapidly, but our leadership structure hasn't kept up. That’s why I’m all in on the “3 to 5 Douglas County” petition to let voters decide if we should expand our Board of County Commissioners from three members to five.

As a 20 year resident of Parker, I have watched Douglas County grow and prosper over that time ... The population of Douglas County has grown from 260,870 in 2006 to 405,741 in 2026. In 2019 the budget for the county was $421.1 million. In 2026 the budget has grown to $650 million. That is an increase in the budget of over $228 million in just 7 years. Do you think that only 2 people should be able to decide where our $650,000,000 goes?

"It's our understanding that the term limits go with the position, such as Douglas County Commissioner. It doesn't have to do with which district you represent; it has to do with the job itself," Thomas said. Thomas added that if the initiative gets on the ballot and passes in November, it is her belief that Teal, whose second and current term ends in 2028, would not be able to run again until 2032.

A petition is circulating across Douglas County as residents are seeking to put a question on the November ballot that would ask voters if they want to increase the number of county commissioners from three to five. The petition stems from a citizen-led effort aiming to bring more representation and accountability to the board of county commissioners and to meet the demand of a growing county. “I’ve watched a county of almost 400,000 people being run by three people and I

Voters in Colorado's Douglas County could see a question on their November ballot about increasing the number of elected county commissioners who represent them. Right now, the Board of Douglas County Commissioners is made up of three commissioners, who each live in a different district but are elected by all the voters of the county.

Democrats and Republicans don’t agree about much in Douglas County, but the “3 to 5 Petition” has rare, bipartisan support in the county. The goal of the petition is to let Douglas County voters decide whether the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) should expand from its current three members to become a five-member board. Organizer Angela Thomas describes the petition as a grassroots, bipartisan effort, and says, “We have volunteer circulators who are ...

Petition effort organizer Angela Thomas sits down with Emily Suyat to explain the citizen-led ballot initiative to expand the Douglas County Commission from three to five members.

A citizen-led initiative is gathering steam to put the question of expanding the Douglas County Board of Commissioners on the November ballot. Denver 7's Tyler Melito covers the growing movement in Douglas County to expand the Board of County Commissioners from three members to five.

The team of volunteers circulating the 3 to 5 petition has grown to more than 50. This citizen-led effort to expand the Douglas County Board of Commissioners from three to five members began in March and has been gaining momentum. Many early signers have become volunteer circulators to help reach the goal of collecting just over 15,000 signatures from registered voters in the county. Volunteers are collecting signatures at the county's libraries and at concerts, farmer's mar