Colorado Election Day 2019 live updates and results

DENVER – It’s Election Day 2019 in Colorado, and voters will be casting ballots on two statewide ballot issues and in municipal and school board elections across the state.

We’ll have live updates through the evening as results come in, starting at 7 p.m. when polling locations and ballot dropboxes close.

Refresh this page for the latest updates.

MORE: Election Results Page | Sec. of State’s Election Results Page | County-by-county results | Live stream | A look at the statewide issues

Thursday

5:28 p.m. — Coffman leads Montgomery by 273 votes, or 0.37% percentage points in the latest update from the Secretary of State's Election Results page.

4:39 p.m. — Mike Coffamn leads Montgomery by 535 votes in the Aurora mayoral race, according to the latest numbers from the Secretary of State's Election Results page.

4 p.m. — Coffman's lead over Montgomery for the Aurora mayoral race has narrowed, with Coffman leading Montgomery by about 600 votes.

2:05 p.m. — We have new updated numbers in the Aurora mayoral race, and Omar Montgomery continues to gain on Mike Coffman's lead. Coffman now leads Montgomery by about 1,400 votes as of 1 p.m.

Wednesday

2:53 p.m. — The Associated Press called the Proposition DD race around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Out of 1,404,782 votes counted, the measure was winning 50.71% to 49.29% and by approximately 20,000 votes.

2:17 p.m. — Summit County voters approved a measure increasing the sales tax on cigarettes to $4 a pack and a 40% tax increase for vaping devices over the next four years.

1 p.m. — House Speaker KC Becker released a new statement Wednesday afternoon on the failure of Proposition CC:

“With Prop CC, we started a conversation about how we can invest in our state’s future and ensure that every Coloradan can share in the economic growth and expansion we are experiencing. We may have lost this battle, but the issues of underfunded roads and schools remain with no easy solution in sight,” she said. “House Democrats are committed to finding a bipartisan path forward to make the investments in our schools that our students deserve and to protect our Colorado values and way of life. I hope that those who opposed Prop CC will work with us to find real solutions to these basic challenges for the better of all Colorado.”

11 a.m. — Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek voters all on Tuesday passed municipal questions authorizing sports betting at the casinos there should DD pass.

As of 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, Proposition DD “yes” votes lead “no” votes by about 13,100 and 0.96% with 64 of the 64 counties reporting.

There were still about 30,000 ballots that needed to be counted in Aurora before the mayoral race can be determined, but Mike Coffman still leads Omar Montgomery.

6:20 a.m. — "Yes" votes for Proposition DD continued to lead overnight. With 58 of 64 counties completely reporting, the "yes" votes lead with 50.48% compared to the "no" votes, which held on at 49.52%. It is still too close to call.

Tuesday

We are calling it a night here at Denver7, but will be back with more updates on the latest figures and other races starting at 5 a.m. Wednesday and on Denver7 Mornings starting at 4:30 a.m.

11:15 p.m. — Proposition DD is leading with a "yes" vote with 2,425 votes in favor, per the latest numbers from the Secretary of State's Election Results Page.

11:10 p.m. — As of 11:10 p.m., Proposition DD “yes” votes lead “no” votes by about 2,400 and 0.2%.

11 p.m. — As of 11 p.m., the “yes” votes for Proposition DD outnumbered the “no” votes by 1,598 votes and 0.12 percentage points.

Some other 11 p.m. numbers:

--Tay Anderson has claimed victory in the Denver Public Schools director at-large race. Scott Baldermann leads in District 1 and the District 5 race has Brad Laurvick narrowly leading Tony Curcio and Julie Bañuelos.
--All four Denver referred ballot questions passed overwhelminghly.
--Marc Williams leads Haarriet Hall in the Arvada mayoral race by 10%.
--Mike Coffman leads Omar Montgomery in the Aurora mayoral race by 6%.
--Curtis Gardner and Anglea Lawson lead the at-large Aurora City Council race and Francoise Bergan leads the Ward VI race.
--Pam Grove and Scott Melin lead the Littleton City Council at-large race and Kelly Milliman leads the District IV race.
--Brian Bagley won the Longmont mayoral race by more than 60% as of 11 p.m. Joan Peck leads the Longmont City Council at-large race.
--Meredith Leighty leads the Northglenn mayoral race by 14% over Mark Philip Bromley. Becky Brown is leading the Ward 2 council race.
--Rich Seymour, Anita Seitz and Lindsey Smith currently lead the Westminster council race.

10:21 p.m. — The ballot measure to legalize sports gambling in the state and to tax casino proceeds from the sportsbooks at 10% to pay for the Colorado water plan was still too close to call late Tuesday night and separated by just a few hundred votes. Click here to read more.

10:05 p.m. — Two changes are coming to Brighton as of Tuesday evening: Residents will be paying less for water, and the city will be under different leadership.

As of 10 p.m., the odds were against Mayor Ken Kreutzer, with 70% of Brighton voters who cast ballots supporting his recall and 30% opposing it.

10 p.m. — We’re now close to 1.22 million votes counted in the Prop DD race, and it remains close, with a 2,000-vote margin, led by the “no” votes.

9:41 p.m. — Gov. Jared Polis said the latest rejection by voters of money for transportation and roads — measures were also rejected in 2018 — showed him that lawmakers needed to do more with what they had.

“With the recent voter rejection of several different ways to fund our roads and reduce congestion including Proposition 109 which would have bonded with no new revenue, Proposition 110 which was a sales tax, and now Proposition CC which would have directed one third of the surplus to be used on roads and bridges, it’s clear that voters want elected officials to do more with their existing tools and legal authority,” Polis said. “I look forward to working with Republicans and Democrats to develop new and innovative approaches to respond to the need to reduce traffic and congestion.”

9:36 p.m. — The Yes on Prop CC campaign posted a statement on Facebook conceding.

"Today's vote is a tough blow to Colorado's students, teachers, and communities. The issues of underfunded roads and schools remain, and a broad, bipartisan coalition couldn’t convince voters that the state should be able to invest with the taxes it already collects," the group wrote. "We hope that those who voted ‘no’ will work together with Prop CC supporters to help us find real solutions to these real challenges for all Coloradans.

According to the Denver Post, House Speaker KC Becker, a proponent of CC, conceded in a speech: "More Coloradans know today that Colorado is at the bottom of the barrel in our support for K-12, higher ed and transportation. And if this is not the solution, we're going to keep working on solutions," she said. "This was an important first step."

9:21 p.m. — The Prop DD rollercoaster continues. It now trails again by about 730 votes, with 1.18M votes counted.

9:11 p.m. — The Bell Policy Center, which was a staunch proponent of Proposition CC, said the measure’s defeat would bring bolder action regarding TABOR.

"Despite tonight’s loss, our needs — better schools, safer roads, stronger family supports — aren’t going away," said Bell Policy Center President Scott Wasserman. “We learned a lot from this campaign, and it’s clear those who are paid to protect TABOR over the needs of Coloradans will misrepresent whatever we put on the ballot. Whatever we do next must be bold enough to drown out the alarmists. That work begins today."

9:08 p.m. — After trailing in recent returns, DD has again taken an extremely narrow lead of 333 votes, leads 50.01% to 49.99% with 1.13 million votes counted.

8:57 p.m. — Colorado voters shot down Proposition CC in Tuesday’s election, which would have allowed the state to keep excess TABOR revenues to put toward road infrastructure improvements as well as to education.

Voters opposed the measure 44%-56%. The Associated Press called the race around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday. Click here to read our full story about the measure's defeat.

8:40 p.m. — Proposition CC now trails by nearly 13% and Proposition DD trails by about 7,000 votes.

In the Brighton mayoral recall, 70% have voted to recall Mayor Kreutzer while 30% voted against recalling him.

Marc Williams leads the Arvada mayoral race and Mike Coffman continues to lead the Aurora mayoral race. Brian Bagley leads the Longmont mayoral race and Meredith Leighty leads the Northglenn mayoral race.

8:24 p.m. — Denver, Boulder and Broomfield are the only counties in the metro area where Proposition CC is currently seeing overall support. As of 8:30 p.m., it was trailing by more than nine percentage points – sometimes double that – in Arapahoe, Adams, Douglas, Jefferson and Weld counties.

It trails by 3% in Larimer County and by 24% in El Paso County.

No on CC Coalition member and Independence Institute President Amy Oliver Cooke said it was a “great night” for Coloradans and maintained that the measure was a “forever tax increase.”

“This is a mandate to the Colorado State Legislature, that they damn well better start prioritizing roads and education without raising taxes,” she said in a statement. “From the outset to the end of our campaign, our team has emphasized that the money in question is taxpayers’ money that we don’t owe to the state of Colorado.”

8:16 p.m. — Jason Gruenauer spoke with Brighton Mayor Ken Kreutzer, who is currently overwhelmingly losing his recall vote and who called tonight "tough." He'll have more coming up.

8:10 p.m. — With more than 1 million ballots counted, Proposition CC is trailing by 12 percentage points and Proposition DD is narrowly trailing, by fewer than 4,000 votes. We still have results coming in and are not calling the race yet, but proponents of the No on CC campaign have already claimed victory.

“Colorado taxpayers were the clear winner in tonight’s defeat of Proposition CC. Governor Polis and the liberal State Legislature overreached once again but were unsuccessful in deceiving the voters of Colorado to fund their reckless spending spree." Colorado GOP Chairman Ken Buck said, "The Colorado GOP is going to drive this momentum straight through next November when we will deliver Colorado for President Trump, Senator Cory Gardner, and our entire Republican ticket.”

8:01 p.m. — We’ve topped 1 million votes cast on both statewide ballot measures. Proposition CC trails by 12 percentage points and Proposition DD now narrowly trails as well, 49.9% in favor and 50.1% opposed.

7:58 p.m. — With nearly 1 million votes tallied in the Prop CC and DD races, CC is trailing by 11 percentage points (44.4%-55.6%) and DD is leading narrowly, 50.4% to 49.6%. Both need 50% plus one vote in order to pass. Magellan Strategies estimated this afternoon we could see 1.4 million votes cast in this election.

7:46 p.m. — The Brighton City Council approved an 8% water rate decrease that will take effect in January. Regarding the mayoral recall, "yes" votes lead "no" votes nearly 2-1.

7:39 p.m. — And just like that, we have another 200,000+ votes reported on the propositions. Prop CC is now far underwater, 55.9% against and 44.1% in favor. Yes votes for Proposition DD now narrowly outpace no votes, 50.9% to 49.1%.

7:37 p.m. — Another large batch of updates puts votes for both propositions above 500,000.

The no votes on Proposition CC now outpace the yes votes, 53.75% to 46.25% with 512,715 votes reported. The yes votes on Proposition DD are still outpacing the no votes, 53.6% to 46.4% with 511,316 votes reported.

7:34 p.m. — We’re seeing some early results in the mayoral and city council races.

In Aurora, former Congressman Mike Coffman leads in early returns, with 39.4%. Omar Montgomery trails with 31%, following by Ryan Frazier (16.5%), Marsha Berzins (11.1%) and Renie Roberta Peterson (1.6%).

Curtis Gardner (25%) narrowly leads Angela Lawson (21.8%), Johnny Watson (17.8%) and Leanne Denise Wheeler in the Aurora City Council At-Large race in early returns.

Francoise Bergan leads Bryan Lindstrom in the Aurora Ward VI race.

The results in the Littleton City Council At Large race are close, with Pam Grove, Scott Melin, Kyle Schlachter and Bill Schwanitz all within 7 percentage points of one another.

Kelly Milliman leads Iftin Abshir in the Littleton City Council District IV race.

The Westminster council vote is also very close among six candidates.

7:16 p.m. — And with a quick update, the leads for Props CC and DD have greatly diminished. We're still very early.

7:05 p.m. — We’re getting an early look at the Denver races. Tay Anderson leads in early returns in the Denver Public Schools Director At-Large race; Scott Baldermann leads in the District 1 race; the District 5 race is all within a few percentage points.

All four ballot questions are receiving overwhelming support.

Statewide, both ballot measures are receiving early approval but there is still a long way to go.

Statewide, both ballot measures are receiving early approval but there is still a long way to go.

6:55 p.m. — We're just five minutes out from polls closing statewide and should be seeing some early results. We will be updating them on this page.

5:14 p.m. — According to Magellan Strategies and pollster David Flaherty, who are tracking ballot returns for this election, about 1.22 million ballots had been returned as of the 4:30 p.m. update.

Flaherty said that current numbers show 35% of active voters returned a ballot, including 44% of registered Republicans, 36% of registered Democrats and 27% of registered unaffiliated voters.

Flaherty said final turnout should be about 1.4 million people.

5:15 p.m. — We have reporters out at the Denver Elections office and in Brighton, covering the recall of the mayor.

5:15 p.m. — We have reporters out at the Denver Elections office and in Brighton, covering the recall of the mayor.

5 p.m. — You've got a couple hours left to vote, Colorado! Polls and dropboxes close at 7 p.m. In the meantime, here are the statewide measures on which you're voting.

Proposition CC: Breaking down the November ballot question on TABOR refunds
Proposition DD: Colorado voters deciding if the state should allow gambling on sports
Ballot issue 1A causing controversy in Jefferson County
Denver School Board Race
Brighton Recall stories
Denver School Board Race
Brighton Recall stories