Colorado rejects ballot measure adding new restrictions on mid-decade redistricting

A ballot measure that would add new restrictions on any efforts to redraw Colorado’s congressional map mid-decade is projected to fail, according to Decision Desk HQ.

Voters rejected the constitutional amendment, known as Amendment 86 or Initiative 256 , which aimed to curb potential Democratic gerrymandering in the Centennial State after the 2026 elections by requiring any congressional redistricting that takes place outside the typical 10-year cycle to be approved by both Colorado’s independent redistricting commission and the state Supreme Court.

The ballot measure would have also added language to the state Constitution that “the commission must hold at least three public meetings and must not adopt any plan that has the effect of dividing communities of interest or purposefully favoring one political party.”

The measure required 55 percent support to pass. DDHQ numbers show just a little more than 46 percent supported the effort. Roughly 53 percent voted against it.

Republicans and Democrats have looked to quickly redraw their House maps this cycle to add more potential pickup opportunities to their column in the fall. President Trump and Republicans encouraged GOP-led states like Texas and Missouri to redraw their House maps before November, with Democrats only being able to respond in kind in California.

Colorado is among a handful of states that uses an independent commission to review and submit congressional redistricting plans.

But both parties are already eyeing a new spat of mid-decade redistricting heading into the 2028 cycle.

Colorado Democrats were unsuccessful earlier this year in looking to pass ballot measures aimed at giving the party an opportunity to redraw their House map in time for 2028.