Correction, April 9, 2026 3:35 pm: The percentages of the vote that each candidate receive has been corrected.
Updated
Each individual voting in Tuesday’s municipal election could vote for four candidates. A total of 1,501 ballots were cast and counted from registered voters, resulting in 4,882 votes. Not every voter cast ballots for all four positions. The final number of ballots cast will be available on April 16, following the last day any ballots received under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. Also included at that time will be the final vote count for each candidate. The final tally will include votes from uniformed and overseas ballots, as well as from 15 ballots held back on election night. The retention of 15 ballots is done to ensure an individual’s votes remain confidential, according to Town Clerk Jackie Williamson.
Candidates for Estes Park’s town board know who will be serving as trustees. Half of those elected just don’t know how long they will serve.
Kirby Hazelton and Jamie Mieras, the top two vote-getters, will sit on the dais for four years. Chris Eshelman and Bill Brown will fill the other two seats on the board, but the race between third and fourth is too close to call until after votes from confidential voters and overseas voters have been received and counted. The deadline for receipt of overseas ballots is April 16, and the Town Clerk’s office will canvass the votes, with final results available on April 17.
Only 11 votes separate Eshelman and Brown. The individual receiving the fewest votes will serve the two-year unexpired term vacated by Cindy Younglund. The other candidate will serve four years.
Only 34 percent of registered voters in the Town of Estes Park cast ballots in the election. Normal turnout is typically between 50 and 60 percent.
“I’m honored to be entrusted with another term as a member of the town board,” said Hazelton, who received 1,035 votes.
“We have a special community, and it’s a privilege to be part of its leadership,” Hazelton said. “Thank you to the voters and to my fellow candidates for their civic engagement. We are in this together, which is what makes us better.”
Meiras, who received 920 votes, said, “This is a surprise. I think that because I grew up in Boulder, and I’ve been coming up here my whole life, I’m pretty attuned to the issues at hand, and I think my natural mindset is very similar to people who have grown up here because I’ve been in and out of the community as a visitor.”
“I think I have a fairly regular daily insight into what’s happening. I really appreciate the ideas and the hopes and the fears and the frustrations that I’ve heard over the last year, and I really care about the future of Estes. I think people feel that as well,” she said.
“I’m happy, and I’m nervous at the same time,” Eshelman said about receiving 856 votes. “I know how much work it is. I’ve been on the other side. I’ve been on the staff side.” His experience as a board member of the Upper Thompson Sanitary District is no comparison to the town. With the sanitation district, Eshman said, “you concentrate on the utility. This is so much more.”
Being a re-elected incumbent offers a different perspective, said Brown, who in the initial tally received 845 votes. “There is an interesting dynamic because they come to the election with an agenda they want to pursue. You think you have great influence. There’s a real learning curve to get your sea legs. I’ve already had my sea legs, already had my sea legs,” he said.
Also running for election were Randy Welch, who received 646 votes, and Aiden Rosenau, who received 580.
Students at Estes Park High School had a higher turnout rate than the district’s voters, with 59 percent of the student body casting ballots in Junior Elections sponsored by the Estes Park League of Women Voters.
In the student election, Hazelton received 106 votes, Rosenau 72, Brown 70, Mieras 66, Welch 69, and Eshelman 61.
“Thank you for providing this opportunity for students at our school! We are grateful for this partnership and excited to see the number of students who chose to vote,” said Superintendent Ruby Bode.