The Independent View: Two UT Cities Will Use Ranked-Choice Voting in 2019

Thanks to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News for this post.

Payson and Vineyard, Utah, will likely be the Only Cities trying out Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) for their Municipal Elections in 2019, after Multiple other Cities that had expressed interest ended up backing out of the New Pilot program.

The Concept was discussed at a Payson City Council meeting last week, with the Council opting to stay with the Pilot program. Payson Mayor Bill Wright said there will be a Cost Savings for the City, since RCV eliminates the need for Payson to hold a Primary. He also hopes it will keep the Election from being as contentious as it has been in past years because Candidates are trying to appeal to a Wider swathe of Voters.

Vineyard committed to sticking with the program at its Council Meeting Wednesday night, with Lower Costs and a Shorter Campaign Period factoring into the Decision. The City won’t hold a Primary Election for its Two Open Council Seats, and Candidates will have until August to Register to Run.

Julie Fullmer, Vineyard’s Mayor, said the Council thoroughly researched the switch, and felt the City was in a good place to try out the method. “We felt like we were in the right spot, location and time of our city’s growth to take this on and see what it means for our residents,” Fullmer said. “We have a population that’s young, connected and our ability to educate is awesome right now. We have a close-knit community and really excellent communication devices and procedures that allow us to get info out to voters very easily.”

A RCV Pilot program was created by the Utah Legislature in 2018, and Six Cities opted into the program before the Dec. 31st Deadline. The Legislature changed that opt-in deadline to April 15th during the 2019 Session.

Of the Six Cities, Cottonwood Heights, Lehi, Salem, and West Jordan, All decided Not to participate in the Pilot program for 2019, citing concerns such as wanting to see how other Cities Implement the program and Educating Voters about the process.

For Cities in Salt Lake County, a lack of Elections Equipment designed to handle RCV factored into the choice, as Cities typically Contract with the County to do their Elections.

Also, Fullmer said, if RCV doesn’t work for the City in 2019, Vineyard can opt-out and go back to the Old system.

Many of the Cities who decided Not to participate remain Conceptually Supportive of the Concept, and may implement it in future years.

“We are still trying to get people used to vote by mail,” said Salem City Recorder Jeff Nielson. “To throw something new out this soon, I don’t know if we’re ready.”

Assuming the Process goes well with other Cities, Nielson said the City would be in favor of implementing RCV in the future.

Other Cities, including Alpine, Elk Ridge, and Highland, had expressed interest in it this year, said Deputy Utah County Clerk Josh Daniels, though none of those Cities ultimately decided to opt-in.

Cities in Utah County typically Contract with Utah County for their Elections, and the Utah County Clerk’s Office says it will be Prepared to handle the New system of Voting.

Participating in RCV won’t Cost Cities Additional Money to Contract with the County, Daniels said, because the RCV Ballots will be Scanned by the same Equipment as Regular Ballots, and the RCV Data is run through Software that Tabulates the Results.

Utah County recently Contracted with Elections Systems & Software (ES&S), which Daniels said is the same Contractor used by the State of Maine when it used RCV for the First time in its Primary Election in June 2018, and again for its General Election in November 2019.

The Utah Cities that are participating in RCV are now primarily concerned with Educating Voters about the system, which will be done in conjunction with the County with help from State-Allocated Funding.

Daniels said they will be working to hold Demonstration Votes, Soliciting Feedback, and taking Sample RCV Ballots to different People in the Communities that will be using the New Method. “There’s been some confusion with vote by mail, and there is concern that education needs to be addressed,” Wright said. “That’s going to have to be the focus coming up to election time.”

Cities Technically have until Monday to notify the Lt. Governor’s Office of Intent to Participate in the program, though Daniels said he was Unaware of any additional Utah County Cities considering it as of last Wednesday.