COLORADO SPRINGS – Three organizations with ties to Colorado Springs have filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court claiming city officials are suppressing voter turnout by continuing to hold municipal elections in the spring rather than in November as part of the larger general elections held for county, state and federal offices.
League of Women Voters of the Pike’s Peak Region, Citizen’s Project, and Common Cause Colorado along with one individual – Angela Pena De Niz – filed the suit on June 24th, saying the city is violating the Colorado Voting Rights Act, which Governor Polis signed into law in May, 2025.
Complete Colorado reached out to Colorado Springs officials for comment, but has not heard back.
Colorado’s VRA
“When we championed the Colorado VRA, we did it to tear down barriers to the ballot, and that’s why we’re using it to sue Colorado Springs,” said Aly Belknap, Common Cause’s Colorado executive director in a statement. “When local elections are held off cycle, voters of color are disproportionately shut out. We are fighting to ensure all voters, regardless of background, can make their voices heard and ensure local government is reflective of the communities it’s responsible for representing.”
The lawsuit marks the first-time enforcement has been requested since the law went into effect. It applies to all elections occurring after Jan.1, 2026. Colorado Springs currently has its next city election scheduled for April of 2027.
Common Cause said upon the governor’s signing that the new law would “prohibit discrimination in elections, ensuring all eligible voters have the right to be heard at the ballot box and a right to fair representation.”
According to the filing, the disparity of black and Hispanic voters to white voters is much larger when the election is not held in November.
“From April 2017 through April 2025 only 18.1 percent of black registered voters and 17.8 percent of Hispanic registered voters cast ballots,” claims the suit. “By contrast, 34.0 percent of white registered voters cast ballots, barely more than half the rate of white registered voters.”
The complaint continues that in November, even-year elections–across the last five elections in Colorado Springs–61.2 percent of Black voters and 63.6 percent of Hispanic voters cast ballots, compared with 79.1 percent of white voters.
“In these elections, Black and Hispanic turnout thus rose to … much more than half of white turnout,” the filing reads, adding the City’s administration compounds the disparity. “Unlike November even-year elections administered by El Paso County, in which all registered voters are mailed ballots, Colorado Springs mails ballots for its local elections only to voters classified as ‘active.'” Plaintiffs claim this practice too falls disproportionately on black and Hispanic voters.
Leveraging the law
“We are using the full force of the Colorado VRA to require the City of Colorado Springs to justify why it would run a less efficient and more expensive election system that is unrepresentative,” said Maryam Jazini Dorcheh, Common Cause’s senior director of litigation in the statement.
The lawsuit asks for the courts to order Colorado Springs to comply with the law, as well as award attorney costs.
League of Women voters said they joined the suit as its mission is to increase voter engagement and participation.
“League of Women Voters strives to increase voter engagement and participation,” said Shelly Roehrs, spokesperson for the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region. “Changing city elections to November has the potential to greatly increase voter turnout among all voters, and in particular, those who participate less in municipal elections.”
Citizens Project board chairman Onnastacia Cole, agreed.
“We envision a Colorado Springs where everyone belongs and the government works for all people,” Cole said. “Our city’s practice of holding odd year Springtime elections has been shown to diminish voter participation among Black and Hispanic voters, and we are proud to take a stand for voter empowerment and equity in our community.”
