Fort Collins holds Regular Municipal Elections in November of odd-numbered years. In 2027, voters will elect a Mayor and Councilmembers for Districts 2, 4 and 6.
All documents on this page are provided for printing purposes. For assistance viewing or reading these documents, please contact the City's ADA Coordinator via email adacoordinator@fortcollins.gov or phone: 970-416-4254.
Candidate Eligibility
To run for municipal office, candidates must meet specific qualifications at the time of election. They must be U.S. citizens, at least 21 years old and registered voters within the city for at least one year before the election. District Councilmember candidates must have lived continuously in their district since accepting nomination under Article II, Section 2 of the City Charter.
Article II, Section 2 of the City Charter lists qualifications for Council office. A person prohibited by the Colorado constitution is prohibited from being a candidate for or holding the office of Councilmember.
Article XII, Section 4 of the Colorado Constitution:
Section 4. Disqualifications from holding office of trust or profit.
No person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of public moneys, bribery, perjury, solicitation of bribery, or subornation of perjury, shall be eligible to the general assembly, or capable of holding any office of trust or profit in this state.
Candidate Affidavit
A completed Candidate Affidavit is due to the City Clerk within ten days of becoming a candidate. It must be signed and notarized before submission.
Candidate Committee
Any person who plans to accept contributions or make expenditures must register a candidate committee prior to accepting or spending funds.
Nomination Petitions
Each candidate for municipal office must circulate and submit a nomination petition meeting signature requirements. Nomination petitions can be picked up in person at the City Clerk's Office.
Signature Requirements:
- District candidates must get signatures from at least 25 registered voters who live within the District.
- Mayor candidates must get signatures from at least 25 registered voters who live anywhere inside city limits.
Candidates are encouraged get more than the required 25 signatures.
Candidates must sign the Acceptance of Nomination at the end of the petition. The petition circulator must sign the Verified Statement of Circulator. Both statements must be notarized.
The candidate must state on the petition form how their name should appear on the ballot. For each office, names will be arranged in alphabetical order by last name. City Charter prohibits printing any title or degree showing the candidate's business or profession. The candidate's name may be a nickname but cannot include punctuation marks around the nickname.
A Financial Disclosure Statement must be filed with the City Clerk when filing the Acceptance of Nomination.
Petition Deadlines
Nomination petitions must be circulated and filed within the window that falls no earlier than 91 days before the election and no later than 70 days before the election.
Notifications
Within five days after filing a nomination petition, the City Clerk will notify the candidate about whether the petition is sufficient. This is typically done by email or phone. Additional signatures cannot be accepted after 5 p.m. 70 days before the election.
Withdrawal from Candidacy
A person who has been nominated may withdraw by filing a written request with the City Clerk. Forms are available from the City Clerk and must be filed no later than 5 p.m. 63 days before the election.
Write-In Candidates
Write-in candidates are no longer allowed per Ordinance 031, 2025.
General Information
Detailed Candidate Guidelines will be posted in advance of the next regular municipal election.
General Forms
Note: All forms listed here are public record, except one document that goes with committee registration. That is a bank document proving you have established a separate bank account for campaign finances. Sometimes those bank documents include information that should be protected and should not be sent via email.
All campaign finance reports go through a review process by a third-party auditor. If you cannot find the report you are looking for, it could still be in the "Under Review" folder. All reports that have completed the review process can be found in their appropriate year folder.
Once inside the year's folder, a complete list of all campaign finance reports filed and reviewed that year will be displayed. You can sort the list by different categories using the column headers.
Campaign Finance Report Form
The campaign finance report form(XLSX, 76KB) must be maintained in .xlsx format and submitted electronically as a .xlsx file. Microsoft Excel is the default program for this file type. Google Sheets (via Google Drive) also accepts this file type and can be used instead of Excel.
Due Dates
Campaign Finance Reports are due on the following dates:
- May 1, 2025 and then on the 1st day of each quarter until the Sept. 2, 2025 report - NEW
- After May 1, 2025 for new committees - 1st report is due 2 weeks after filing committee registration - NEW
- July 1, 2025 - (1st day of quarter until Sept. 2, 2025 report) - NEW
- Sept. 2, 2025 (63 days before election) - NEW
- Sept. 30, 2025 (35 days before election)
- Oct. 14, 2025 (21 days before election)
- Oct. 21, 2025 (14 days before election)
- Oct. 31, 2025 (by noon - Friday before election)
- Oct. 31, 2025 (Since Nov. 1, 2025 is on a Saturday) - Annual Reports due for any open committees not part of the 2025 election
- Dec. 2, 2025 (28 days after election) - AMENDED
- Jan. 13, 2026 (70 days after election)
Required Documentation
Candidate committees must get a written statement of fair market value from anyone who sells them goods or services, and from anyone who gives them goods or services as a contribution in kind. Any seller or contributor asked for this statement must give the committee the true, full (undiscounted) value. Committees must keep these statements and give them to the City Clerk upon request.
Contributions from Limited Liability Companies (LLC) must be accompanied by the following form completed by the LLC and provided to the Committee. The Committee must keep the form, but it does not need to be filed with the City Clerk.
Note: Campaign Finance Reporting Forms must be filed electronically by emailing the Excel file to elections@fortcollins.gov and are considered timely if filed no later than midnight Mountain Time on the date due. The report due the Friday before the election is due at noon Mountain Time.
"Paid for By" Requirements
Certain campaign materials require a payment statement, as described in Sec. 7-140 of City Code. These requirements apply to ALL candidates, committees and independent expenditures.
Key Dates for November 4, 2025 Election
- Upon Candidacy: Candidate Affidavit is due within ten days of becoming a candidate. A Committee Registration is also needed before accepting contributions or making expenditures.
- April 2: Council Information Session for those interested in running for Council - 6 p.m., City Council Chambers
- April 7: Candidate or Committee Question & Answer Drop In at 4 p.m. at the City Clerk's Office. These are scheduled for the 1st Monday of every month. Subsequent drop-in dates: May 5, June 2, July 7, Aug. 4, Sept. 8 (moved due to Labor Day), Oct. 6, Nov. 3
- May 1: First Campaign Report due for any committees accepting contributions or making expenditures. Reports will be posted online shortly after receipt.
- Aug. 5-26: Circulation of nomination petition
- Aug. 26: Deadline to file nomination petitions - by 5 p.m.*Financial Disclosure Statement is due at the same time nomination petition is filed
- Sept. 2: Deadline to withdraw from candidacy
- Sept. 15: Council Candidate Orientation Session - 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers
- Oct. 13-17: Ballots mailed to voters
- Nov. 4: Election Day
- Nov. 14: Last day for Larimer County to tabulate all in-person and accepted mail ballots (including overseas ballots and those where signature deficiencies were cured) and complete a summary results report.
- Nov. 26: Deadline for Larimer County to certify the official election results and last day for an interested party to request a recount at their own expense.
- Dec. 5: Last day for Larimer County to complete a required statutory recount
- Dec. 9: Last day for Larimer County to complete a recount requested by an interested party
- Jan. 13: Newly elected and re-elected officials take their oaths of office