Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct an erroneous statement by The Gazette regarding possible legal challenges to a Colorado Springs zoning ordinance regulating retail marijuana shops. Graf’s latest statement from Nov. 19 is now included.

Colorado Springs residents appear to have rejected a ballot question that sought to more permanently ban recreational marijuana sales in the city, according to updated election results from the El Paso County Clerk & Recorder’s Office Thursday night.

Final unofficial results updated at 8:23 p.m. on Thursday showed the City Council-backed Question 2D, which proposes amending the city charter to prohibit recreational marijuana establishments in Colorado Springs, was failing, 49.4% to 50.6%.

In total, 387,297 ballots have been counted for just under 78% voter turnout, according to clerk’s data.

Conversely, the competing resident-backed Question 300, which asks voters to authorize the city’s roughly 90 existing medical marijuana shops to also opt into selling retail cannabis products, continued to pass Thursday by a vote of 54.7% to 45.3%.

Recreational marijuana is currently prohibited in Colorado Springs, but a voter-approved ballot initiative would overturn that ban.

The county clerk released updated results Thursday after counting additional ballots, including some that required extra steps to address issues like missing signatures or identification checks, as well as military and overseas ballots. The eight-day period for addressing these “cured” ballots and counting returned military and overseas ballots ended Wednesday night.

It was unclear Thursday night exactly how many more ballots were counted, but County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker earlier this week estimated the number was in the hundreds.

The results will be official once the Canvass Board certifies the vote count on Nov. 27, but Thursday’s updated results provide a solid idea of how official results stand.

After initial returns were reported on Election Day and throughout much of last week, Question 2D was passing — but the vote flipped Saturday evening after officials finished tabulating ballots cast on Election Day.

Ballot Question 300 has continued to pass in the nine days since the election, by wider margins with every updated vote count.

Colorado Springs Safe Neighbor Coalition was the committee that sponsored and backed the 2D charter ban measure. Coalition spokesman Joel Sorenson said in a statement Friday that he still felt voters were confused by the wording of the other ballot measure and the reason both issues were on the ballot.

“The proponents ran a clever campaign, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a future city council decides to ask the question again, on a ballot where there won’t be competing measures and therefore won’t be any confusion,” Sorenson stated.

If retail sales are officially legalized in Colorado Springs once election results are certified later this month, it is still unknown if a recent city ordinance that seemed to preemptively limit shops’ possible operating locations mostly to the city’s eastern side will go into effect.

The ordinance prohibits facilities from selling recreational cannabis within one mile of K-12 schools, residential and child care, or drug or alcohol treatment facilities. No medical marijuana shops would be able to sell recreational products at their current locations under this ordinance.

Question 300 proposes less stringent setbacks; it would prohibit recreational marijuana shops from operating within 1,000 feet of schools and other facilities.

Colorado Springs officials have not given a clear answer about whether the zoning ordinance will take precedence over the setback requirements in Question 300.

On Thursday, city spokesman Max D’Onofrio again said there is no update from the city at this time.

“As we wait for the election results to be certified, we are closely reviewing the citizen-initiated ordinance and other pertinent city regulations. We do not have a timeline for when this review will be complete, and it would be inappropriate for the city to speculate on outcomes until this review is finished,” he said in an email.

City council member Nancy Henjum was one of two on the council, along with Yolanda Avila, who voted against the extended 1-mile zoning barrier in September. She said the City Council had started getting angry emails from voters who were realizing how much the council’s zoning ordinance would limit Proposition 300.

“People voted on something they believed would become reality. How many of those people have any idea about the ordinance that passed? I don’t know but I doubt the majority of them did,” Henjum said.

Previous attempts at ballot measures to legalize recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs had failed, including as recently as 2022. Henjum said the language of Proposition 300 may be a reason it passed, but so could changing demographics for the city or the potential revenue that would come from the industry.

Earlier this month, Meghan Graf, a spokesperson for the resident-backed pro campaign Citizens for Responsible Marijuana Regulation, called on the city government to honor residents’ decision to allow sales if Question 300 is approved.

In an emailed statement Thursday night, she said, “Today is a win for Colorado Springs voters, who chose (recreational) marijuana legalization over an outright ban. This just put it to rest.”

Graf said in a written statement Tuesday the pro campaign won’t speculate on any hypothetical legal action against the city’s restrictive zoning ordinance.

“We hope the city complies with the will of the voters who voted overwhelmingly to approve recreational marijuana, along with the $10 million to $15 million in annual tax revenue for veterans, public safety and mental health. This is a democracy — contrary to what some members of council have remarked in the past — and it’s clear that Colorado Springs voters want to see legalization implemented.”

Gazette’s Brennen Kauffman contributed to this story.