Does Your Vote in Wellington Actually Matter?
Yes. And the numbers from the last election prove it beyond any doubt.
5,932 Wellington residents didn’t vote.
The winner needed 226.
Wellington held a municipal election on April 7, 2026. Most of your neighbors never showed up. Here’s exactly what that cost.
in Wellington
(27% turnout)
election entirely
The other 3 in 4 let someone else decide.
The Mayor’s race was decided by 226 votes, the margin between first and second place. Of the 5,932 people who sat out, it would have taken fewer than 4% of them showing up to flip the result.
| Candidate | Votes | |
|---|---|---|
| Rebekka Dailey (Kinney) | Won by 226 votes | |
| Christine Gaiter | 226 votes behind | |
| Ed Cannon |
| Candidate | Votes | |
|---|---|---|
| Aaron Blackstone | ||
| Brian M. Mason | ||
| Kendra Barrett | ||
| Sofia Moore | Not elected, missed by 37 votes | |
| Marc Roberson | Not elected |
Kendra Barrett made the Board with 984 votes; Sofia Moore missed it with 947. In a town where 5,932 people stayed home, 37 votes is nothing. A single street. A single neighborhood. Your block.
“It won’t affect my life.”
Your Board of Trustees makes decisions every month that reach into your wallet, your backyard, your community, and your way of life, whether you’re paying attention or not.
This isn’t about Washington D.C. politics. It’s about the people who control what’s built next door to you, what rules govern your property, and whether Wellington stays the town you chose to live in, or follows Fort Collins down the road of high taxes, homeless camps, and government that grows faster than the people it’s supposed to serve.
“Everyone in Wellington thinks the same.
It doesn’t matter who wins.”
The April 2026 election results say otherwise.
That’s exactly why two conservative candidates chose to run. They looked at the ballot and saw that every other candidate was either progressive or endorsed by progressives. Someone had to offer Wellington voters a real alternative. They did, and they came close. With stronger turnout from residents who share their values, the outcome could have been different.
If you assumed everyone else thought like you and stayed home, so did thousands of your neighbors. That’s exactly how 73% of the electorate sits out an election. Your assumption that your vote doesn’t matter is self-fulfilling, and it’s the single biggest reason the other side wins.
Wellington has grown significantly in recent years. Many of those new residents are people who came from Fort Collins, or share its progressive values, but can no longer afford to live there. Rather than adjusting their expectations, many want to bring Fort Collins-style amenities, programs, and policies with them — which means more government spending, more bureaucracy, and higher costs for everyone already living here. The assumption that “we all think alike here” gets less true every year, and low turnout ensures that the most motivated newcomers, not the long-time residents, end up deciding who leads this town.
Fort Collins didn’t happen overnight.
It happened vote by vote, Board meeting by Board meeting, while most residents weren’t paying attention. Wellington is at an earlier point on that same road.
Nobody in Fort Collins voted to make their city unaffordable. Nobody voted for homeless encampments along the Poudre River trail. Nobody voted for rainbow crosswalks painted with tax dollars, or city staff dedicated to DEI programming, or deficit budgets that keep growing. It happened incrementally, as progressive leadership accumulated over years of low-turnout local elections, each one “too small to matter.” Fort Collins now has some of the highest property taxes in Northern Colorado, homeless encampments along its trails, and a cost of living that has priced out the working families who built it.
The question for Wellington is not whether it could go that direction. It’s whether enough residents are paying attention to make sure it doesn’t.
- Rainbow crosswalks and DEI events funded with taxpayer money
- Deficit spending and structural budget shortfalls
- Among the highest property taxes in Northern Colorado
- Median home price over $500,000, working families priced out
- Homeless encampments downtown and along the Poudre River trail
- Rising property crime and car break-ins
- High-density rezoning pushed through over neighborhood objections
- Utility rates among the highest in the region
- Regulations on gas appliances and wood stoves in your own home
- City government that grows faster than the population it serves
- Tax dollars spent on roads and services — not political agendas
- A budget that lives within its means, no reserve drawdowns
- Home prices working families can still afford
- Safe streets and neighbors who look out for each other
- A town where your neighbor still knows your name
- Zoning that protects neighborhoods, not developers
- Faith communities and businesses that can build and grow here
- Utility rates held in check by a Board that cuts costs first
- Your property, your choices — minimal government interference
- A government sized to serve residents, not to grow itself
Wellington is still small enough that engaged residents can determine its direction. But that window doesn’t stay open forever. Every low-turnout election is a door left unlocked. The April 2026 election, decided by hundreds of votes while thousands sat home, is proof that the door is already open.
🦅 Stay Informed. Stay Engaged.
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