Boulder Voter Guide
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025!
Why vote in local elections? Your city council has more power over your life than Congress. They have the power to increase the minimum wage, create more affordable housing, and make a vibrant, just economy where everyone can thrive. It’s important to use your power and vote for the candidate who will fight for you!
Who to Vote For
There are four open city council seats, so you can vote for up to four candidates on your ballot!
Lauren Folkerts
Lauren Folkerts has been at the forefront of fighting for the changes Boulder needs most: affordable housing, higher wages, and bold climate action. On city council, she successfully raised Boulder’s minimum wage, reformed land use to support more affordable housing, and passed the nation’s first embodied carbon building code to combat climate change. She’s a proven progressive leader who listens, delivers, and isn’t afraid to take on tough fights.
Why support Lauren?
As mayor pro tem, Lauren has brought together her expertise as an architect and policymaker with a deep commitment to equity and inclusion. If re-elected, she will continue championing stronger renter protections, expanding energy efficiency programs to make improvements affordable for every household, and ensuring Boulder’s budget prioritizes the needs of workers, students, and renters while confronting the climate emergency head-on. She is also committed to advancing zoning reforms that create walkable, bike-friendly, and transit-rich neighborhoods that will reduce emissions while building a more livable, affordable, and accessible Boulder for all.
Re-electing Lauren is crucial to keeping Boulder moving forward. She has shown she can deliver bold, equitable change – and with so much on the line, we need her leadership to protect Boulder’s progress and keep building a city where everyone can thrive.
Nicole Speer
Nicole Speer has been one of Boulder’s most effective progressive leaders, delivering results that benefit the entire community. In her time on city council, she has successfully expanded affordable housing and renter protections, raised Boulder’s minimum wage, increased voter access, and created Boulder’s first library district. She is a force for positive change and is only getting started.
Why support Nicole?
With her experience as a scientist, union member, and mom, Nicole brings both the expertise and lived perspective to make Boulder a model city. Looking ahead, Nicole is focused on protecting Boulder’s progress and building a future where everyone can thrive. She will prioritize securing long-term funding for housing and mental health programs, overturning Colorado’s ban on local rent control, and embedding equity and sustainability into every city plan.
She will also prioritize building inclusive public spaces, investing in safe and accessible transportation for all ages and abilities, and promoting budgets that reflect our community’s values of equity, sustainability, and belonging.
With Nicole Speer on council, Boulder will continue to lead. She has the courage, clarity, and compassion needed to fight for a city where everyone has a real chance to belong and thrive.
Rachel Rose Isaacson
Rachel Isaacson represents the next generation of progressive leadership in Boulder and is running to be Boulder’s first Gen Z city council member. As a renter, political economist, and a proven advocate, she brings both lived experience and policy expertise to the fight for affordability, equity, and climate resilience.
Why support Rachel?
Rachel has been a strong advocate since she was a teenager, when she helped pass a ban on conversion therapy in Ohio, and later helped elect bold progressive leaders in Colorado. She’s ready to bring that same energy to the Boulder City Council and ensure young people have a seat at the table in shaping the city’s future.
Her priorities are climate resiliency, affordable housing and homelessness services, and equity, which speak directly to the urgent challenges facing Boulder. Importantly, Rachel’s perspective as a renter who has faced a no-fault eviction brings urgency to her fight for stronger renter protections, emergency housing planning, and repealing the state’s ban on rent control.
Electing Rachel would strengthen Boulder’s progressive majority and ensure younger voices and renter perspectives are finally represented in city government.
Statewide Ballot Measures
Propositions LL & MM
Healthy School Meals for All
What do they do?
Proposition LL allows the state to keep and spend money to support the Healthy School Meals for All Program.
Proposition MM increases taxes for people with higher incomes in order to fund the Healthy School Meals for All Program.
Why are we voting YES?
The Healthy School Meals for All Program ensures students have access to healthy, nutritious meals during the school day. This program contributes to the health, well-being, and academic success of more young people in the state.
Local Ballot Measures
Issue 1A
What does it do?
This measure wouldn’t increase taxes, but asks voters to extend the county’s current 0.15% Open Space Sales and Use Tax indefinitely. This tax will be used for acquiring, improving, managing, and maintaining open space lands.
Issue 1B
What does it do?
This measure asks voters for a three-year 0.15% increase to Sales and Use taxes to fund mental health and behavioral health services. The funds would address the needs of adults, young people, and unhoused folks by providing mental health crisis services.
How to Vote in Boulder
Ballots are mailed out to all registered voters on Oct. 10, so check your mailbox to confirm you get your ballot! Here are the two ways to vote and have your voice heard this election:
1. BALLOT DROP BOX.
Make sure your vote is counted by dropping off your completed ballot at a dropbox by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Drop boxes are open 24/7 through 7 p.m. on Election Day. There are 7 drop boxes around town, so find the nearest drop box locations here!
2. IN PERSON.
If you didn’t receive your ballot in the mail, need a new ballot, or need to register to vote, you can vote in person at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder)’s campus in the University Memorial Center (UMC) OR the Boulder County Clerk & Recorder’s office (1750 33rd St, Boulder).
The hours of operation are:
- Monday, Oct. 27 – Friday, Oct. 31 (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.)
- Saturday, Nov. 1 (9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)
- Monday, Nov. 3 (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.)
- Tuesday, Election Day, Nov. 4 (7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.)
If you’re going to vote in person, remember to bring an accepted form of ID, which you can find here.
Remember: In Colorado, it is never too late to register to vote. You can register to vote or update your registration online by Oct. 27 here to receive your ballot in the mail.
You can also register to vote and receive your ballot at a Voter Service Center starting on Monday, Oct. 27, through 7 p.m. on Election Day.