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Clerk details ranked-choice voting in Fort Collins, new election data dashboard and ballot logistics
Summary
Larimer County Clerk Tina Harris briefed the commission on the Nov. 4 coordinated election: Fort Collins voters will see ranked-choice contests, ballots mailed Oct. 10, five vote centers available and a new public election-stats dashboard launched.
Larimer County Clerk and Recorder Tina Harris told the Board of County Commissioners Sept. 23 the county is preparing for the Nov. 4, 2025 coordinated election and highlighted two changes voters should expect: the City of Fort Collins will use ranked-choice voting for several contests, and the county has launched an online election-stats dashboard to publish historical and current election data.
Key details and dates: Harris said ballots will be mailed Oct. 10 to all registered active voters and that ballot boxes will open the same day. Five vote centers will be available for in-person voting, with the first centers opening Oct. 27 and four centers open Nov. 1 (Saturday) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; a two-day site at Front Range Community College opens Nov. 3 and remains open on election day. Ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on election night to count.
Ranked voting in Fort Collins: Fort Collins will use ranked-choice voting (RCV) for the mayoral contest and two council districts (contests with three or more candidates); the clerk noted the mayoral contest has seven candidates. The county and the city have posted sample ballots and an FAQ; Harris asked voters to review materials when they receive ballots and said the county will post RCV results using RCViz, an interactive visualization tool that shows vote rounds.
Ballot-drop boxes and access: Harris described operational changes to two drop-box locations. The county relocated a Timnath drop box to the Timnath Town Center to raise accessibility, and the large Oak Street drop box at 200 W. Oak was moved across the parking lot to a drive-up location to improve safety and handle high usage (in 2024 about 20,000 ballots were dropped at that account and 3,500 on election day). Harris said the drop boxes are under 24/7 surveillance and monitored for outages.
New election data dashboard: Harris said the county launched an "election stats" dashboard on Sept. 22 to give public access to more than 1,500 data points for contests, ballot measures and voter statistics, with interactive maps and charts providing historical results back several years. The dashboard is available at larimer.gov and is intended to replace manual PDF searches for many users.
What the board asked: Commissioner questions focused on recommended mailing cutoffs (Harris advised voters to use drop boxes or vote centers for ballots mailed after Oct. 27) and whether ranked voting will delay results (Harris said results will be reported on the county—s normal schedule and RCV results will be posted via RCViz; Boulder County—s 2023 RCV implementation was cited as a successful precedent).
Ending: Harris encouraged voters to review sample ballots at vote.larimer.gov, to plan early, and to call the clerk—s office with questions; commissioners endorsed the outreach and data-visualization work.
