# Colma Town Council Compare records and positions simply between Laura M. Walsh, Elisabeth Aurora Jenson, and 2 more for Colma Town Council at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of five at-large seats on Colma's Town Council. They vote on town ordinances, the budget, and land use for this roughly 1,500-resident San Mateo County town. The term is four years. The Council selects a Mayor and Vice Mayor from among its own members each year rather than voters choosing either office directly. - Jurisdiction: City of Colma - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Seats: 2 - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/colma-council - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 1, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 87 out of 100 (Strong), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Laura M. Walsh** — Medical Assistant - **Elisabeth Aurora Jenson** — Entrepreneur / Artist - **Joanne F. Del Rosario** — Incumbent - **Helen Fisicaro** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Four candidates qualified for two of Colma's five at-large Town Council seats on the November 3 ballot, per San Mateo County's certified roster. Two incumbents are seeking re-election. They are Helen Fisicaro, the sitting Vice Mayor, and Joanne F. Del Rosario. They face two challengers, Laura M. Walsh and Elisabeth Aurora Jenson. The two winners each serve a four-year term on Colma's five-member, at-large Town Council: town ordinances, the budget, and land-use decisions for this roughly 1,500-resident San Mateo County town -- famous as the "City of Souls," where an estimated 1.5 million people are buried across its many cemeteries, vastly outnumbering the living. Colma doesn't directly elect a Mayor -- the five councilmembers choose a Mayor and Vice Mayor from among themselves each year. Carrie Slaughter currently holds the Mayor's chair (her seat isn't up this cycle) and Fisicaro is the sitting Vice Mayor. Two of the four candidates already hold the seats up this cycle -- Fisicaro, on the council since 1994 and chosen Mayor by her colleagues eight times, and Del Rosario, on the council since 2006 and a past Mayor herself -- so the choice is less about council experience than whether voters want to keep that long-tenured leadership or bring in one or both of the two challengers. ## Helen Fisicaro Fisicaro has served on Colma's Town Council since 1994, more than three decades. Her colleagues have chosen her as Mayor eight times over that tenure. She currently holds the Vice Mayor's chair. A San Francisco native, she has lived in Colma since 1977. She holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Human Resource Management from San Francisco State University. She retired from Pacific Gas and Electric Company in February 2010, after nearly 40 years there. She sits on the California Cities Gaming Authority, the Colma Creek Citizens Advisory Committee, the League of California Cities, and the San Mateo County Council of Cities. She has also been inducted into the San Mateo County Women's Wall of Fame. **Strengths:** By far the longest tenure and deepest institutional knowledge in this field. She has more than three decades on the council. Her fellow councilmembers have chosen her as Mayor eight times. **Trade-offs:** No specific 2026 platform beyond her existing committee record could be confirmed from public sources. No campaign site was found for her this cycle. **Keep in mind:** Her filed ballot designation reads simply "Incumbent." The town's own biography page fills in the Vice Mayor title and committee record used here. ## Joanne F. Del Rosario Del Rosario has served on Colma's Town Council since first winning election in December 2006. Her colleagues chose her as Mayor in 2015. She works as an Executive Assistant to the President and CEO of a biotech company in Emeryville. Earlier she was a legal secretary and a human-resources administrator at Bay Area law firms and at Xerox Corporation. She sits on the Association of Bay Area Governments and on Peninsula Clean Energy's board of directors. She also serves on San Francisco International Airport's Community Roundtable. In Colma she sits on the Emergency Services Council and the Economic Development Subcommittee. In 2009 the Filipinas Women's Network named her one of the "100 Most Influential Filipinas in the United States." **Strengths:** Two decades on the council, including a past term as Mayor. She also holds a wide regional-board portfolio. It spans transportation, energy, and airport-community relations. **Trade-offs:** No specific 2026 platform beyond her existing committee record could be confirmed from public sources. No campaign site was found for her this cycle. **Keep in mind:** Wikipedia's Colma article names her the town's current Mayor. That is stale against the town's own current council roster. The roster now names Carrie Slaughter Mayor and Fisicaro Vice Mayor. It is not repeated here as current fact. ## Laura M. Walsh Walsh filed for this seat with the ballot designation "Medical Assistant." Beyond that filed designation, no campaign site, news coverage, or other independent source was found for them. **Strengths:** One of two newcomers in this field. Walsh offers voters an alternative to two long-tenured incumbents. **Trade-offs:** They have no service in elected or appointed town government. No specific platform could be confirmed from available reporting. That is a genuine sourcing gap, not evidence about their candidacy. **Keep in mind:** The roster lists no campaign website, phone, or public email for them. No local news coverage profiling them individually was found. If a platform surfaces, the weekly refresh will catch it. ## Elisabeth Aurora Jenson Jenson filed for this seat with the ballot designation "Entrepreneur / Artist." Beyond that filed designation, no campaign site, news coverage, or other independent source was found for them. **Strengths:** One of two newcomers in this field. Jenson offers voters an alternative to two long-tenured incumbents. **Trade-offs:** They have no service in elected or appointed town government. No specific platform could be confirmed from available reporting. That is a genuine sourcing gap, not evidence about their candidacy. **Keep in mind:** The roster lists no campaign website, phone, or public email for them. No local news coverage profiling them individually was found. If a platform surfaces, the weekly refresh will catch it. ## Sources 1. [San Mateo County ACRE -- Roster of Candidates, Qualified Candidates Only, November 3, 2026 General Election (CFMR009), dated 2026-08-25: names the Town of Colma's Member, City Council contest 'On Ballot: Yes,' 'Vote for 2,' the four qualified candidates (Helen Fisicaro, Laura M. Walsh, Joanne F. Del Rosario, Elisabeth Aurora Jenson), their filing/qualification order and dates, and each candidate's filed ballot designation](https://smcacre.gov/system/files/2026-08/52_candidateroster0825.pdf) 2. [Town of Colma -- official 'November 3, 2026 Elections' page: independently lists the identical four qualified candidates (Fisicaro and Del Rosario marked incumbents) for '2 four-year seats' on the Town Council, and notes each candidate's obligation to meet FPPC filing requirements without linking a local campaign-finance disclosure portal](https://www.colma.ca.gov/november-3-2026-elections/) 3. [Town of Colma -- official 'City Council' page: the council consists of five members, each elected at large to a four-year term, and the council selects one of its own members to serve a one-year term as Mayor](https://www.colma.ca.gov/departments/city-council/) 4. [Town of Colma -- official council-members contact page: names the current sitting council (Mayor Carrie Slaughter, Vice Mayor Helen Fisicaro, Councilmembers Joanne F. del Rosario, Thomas Walsh, and Ken Gonzalez) -- the source for which two of the five seats (Fisicaro's and Del Rosario's) are up this cycle and confirmed as incumbents](https://www.colma.ca.gov/council-members-contact-info/) 5. [Wikipedia -- 'Colma, California': 2020 Census population (1,507) and the town's 'City of Souls' framing (roughly 1.5 million people buried in its cemeteries) only; the article's claim that Joanne del Rosario is the current Mayor is treated as stale against the town's own current council roster page and not repeated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colma,_California) 6. [California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- negative-result campaign-finance search for all four 2026 Colma Town Council candidates](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/list.aspx) 7. [Town of Colma -- official contact/biography page for Vice Mayor Helen Fisicaro: on the Town Council since 1994, elected Mayor by her colleagues eight times, a San Francisco native and Colma resident since 1977, retired from Pacific Gas and Electric Company in February 2010 after nearly 40 years, and her committee/board assignments and community recognition](https://www.colma.ca.gov/contacts/helen-fisicaro/) 8. [Town of Colma -- official contact/biography page for Councilmember Joanne F. del Rosario: first elected to the Town Council in December 2006, chosen Mayor by her colleagues in 2015, her career as an Executive Assistant at a biotech company, and her committee/board assignments and community recognition](https://www.colma.ca.gov/contacts/joanne-f-del-rosario/) ## The rest of the ballot Colma Town Council is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "Colma Town Council — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/colma-council (sources last retrieved September 1, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.