Lines were short or nonexistent for drop-off ballot boxes Tuesday evening as Colorado Springs closed out a municipal election deciding the makeup of City Council. 

Numbers showed just over 69,000 ballots cast for a 21% turnout for the election — lower than in 2021, when the finalized turnout was 27% for the last council election. Preliminary turnout numbers released in the city’s daily ballot report on Friday also were trending lower than at the same point in the 2021 election.

Results are still preliminary, and not all precincts had reported by The Gazette’s press time Tuesday night. 

The most recent district map published on the city’s website showed District 1 with the highest turnout at 25.4%. Lowest turnout was logged in District 4 at just 9.7%. 

Colorado Springs 2025 City Council election: Updated results

Turnout typically drops sharply from a November to a spring election. The length of the ballot this time also dropped significantly, from multiple pages to just a handful of local races.

Six seats were up for election this year, including those of incumbents Nancy Henjum in District 5 and Dave Donelson in District 1. 

What did not make it onto the ballot was a question asking voters to repeal the city’s newly voted-in ordinance allowing recreational sale licenses for existing medical marijuana businesses. Opponents objected to the question on multiple grounds, including that it would likely see far fewer votes from Colorado Springs residents in the April election. 

The city-backed question was shot down by an El Paso County District Court judge in February, who issued an order that the city not allow the question to appear on the ballot “to avoid disenfranchising and confusing the electorate.” 

City Council Election results: Incumbent Dave Donelson pulls ahead in District 1 race

The ruling found that the Colorado Constitution only allowed votes to ban recreational marijuana sales during even-year general elections. 

Another court ruling has preserved, for now, the April date for Colorado Springs’ municipal election after Harvard’s Election Law Clinic and local voter groups brought a suit alleging the timing suppressed turnout, especially for non-White voters. 

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit last week. District Court Judge S. Kato Crews ruled that the parties did not have the right to sue over the election date, which has been in place for 150 years in the city charter. A public vote would be needed to change the election.