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Out of 271 municipalities in Colorado, 26 cities and towns have put the issue on the ballot. The measure will also be up for a vote in the unincorporated areas of 14 counties.
Voters in municipalities including Aurora, Broomfield, Castle Pines North and LaJunta will decide whether to regulate medical marijuana centers, let them operate under state law or use city law to ban them.
"Medical marijuana is one of the most important issues in the state right now, in terms of getting voter attention," 9NEWS Political Analyst Floyd Ciruli said.
Denver has already passed a licensing ordinance for medical marijuana centers.
"Colorado has, at last count, about 100,000 medical marijuana patients. That means that every community in this state is going to have to deal with it," Ciruli said.
This year, Colorado lawmakers passed a bill allowing local jurisdictions to decide whether to ban dispensaries.
The Colorado Municipal League (CMI) says, regardless of which side residents are on, cities should be able to make decisions on medical marijuana centers.
"It truly proves that all politics is local," CMI Legislative Advocacy Manager Kevin Bommer said. "If the voters say 'yes,' then the city or county or town board would go back and adopt and ordinance."
Ciruli says the results of the election could show some cities opposing medical marijuana centers with other nearby cities approving them.
"There's no doubt there's going to be a huge amount of variation. Even though we have many cities and counties with things on the ballot, we also have many, many that do not. So this will be a very slowly evolving process and it's probably going to involve some court cases," he said.
More than 20 Colorado cities have already banned medical marijuana centers.
Voters in California may also have an effect on the debate over marijuana in Colorado. California residents will soon vote on a measure that would fully legalize marijuana.
"If California passes legislation for recreational use, I have no doubt there will be something on the ballot here," Ciruli said.
According to CMI, eight cities, including Granby and Pueblo, have proposals on the ballot that deal with taxing marijuana sales.
Any city that does want to put the issue of medical marijuana centers to a vote has to do so by next July or else those cities will automatically be classified under state laws for medical marijuana.
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