Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — For Salt Lake City Councilman Darin Mano, it's never too early to vote on the rules of next year's elections.
He's not up for reelection in 2023, but he had already started his reelection campaign last year when the council voted in April 2021 to use the ranked choice voting method for its municipal election that year — the first time the city ever used that particular method of voting. Utah's capital city was one of nearly two dozen municipalities that opted into the state's ranked choice voting pilot program that began in 2019.
The council has until May 2023 to decide to opt into the program again. And as the council mulls bringing ranked choice voting back next year, Mano's experience last year is why he hopes the council will decide sooner for the 2023 municipal candidates' sake.
"I hope we can make the decision much sooner, so the candidates know what to expect before they start their races — not like in the middle of them for some of us," he said, following an informational presentation on the matter last week.
If the city does opt into the program, it will be the first time the method is used in determining the city's mayor.
Ranked choice voting is where voters rank all of the listed candidates on a ballot in order from first to last. If no candidate receives at least half of the first-place votes, there's a series of run-offs conducted after the election. Election officials eliminate the candidate with the least amount of votes and appropriate the second-place votes from people who voted for that candidate to the remaining candidates.
This process continues until there is a candidate with at least half of the votes. Salt Lake City tested it out in 2021 without a primary election, meaning all the candidates who ran for City Council seats were listed on the ballot.
While three of the five available seats last year were won in multiple counting rounds, all three of those winners had a plurality in the initial vote. That means ranked choice voting did not alter last year's general election results, but the system does open the possibility for someone other than the first-round plurality leader to win an election.
How much does it cost?
The cost of last year's election ended up totaling $121,948, though licensing fees between cities in the counting knocked the city's cost down to $86,376. Another $94,974.73 was spent in multimedia, print, in-person or distribution advertising to explain ranked choice voting ahead of the election, according to a memo Salt Lake City Recorder Cindy Lou Trishman sent city leaders in March.
There was no cost comparison included from previous elections; however, the city's 2017 budget included $285,000 in one-time funding set aside for municipal elections that year, the closest comparison to the 2021 election.
Next year's cost is expected to rise with inflation, having more ballots to print and a possible primary election next year. Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen, who is retiring at the end of the year, said she is unable to project an estimate of what next year's election would cost, should Salt Lake City continue with ranked choice voting.
Swensen did say the county "grossly underestimated" the cost of ranked choice voting because it was more complex on the counting end than they believed ahead of the election, resulting in nearly $40,000 more in actual cost than originally estimated. Dominion Voting Systems also gave the county a discount as a first-time ranked choice voting software customer last year, she added. That discount may not exist next year.
"At this point in time, I can't tell you, with any factual information, what an estimate would be or what the contract services might be for my successor," she told members of the council. "I just don't know."
Mano pointed out that the cost of the election is "a pretty small number" when compared to other items in the city's $425.5 million budget. It's also money well spent if residents find it to be a better way to select city leaders.
So, what about the voters and candidates think of ranked choice voting?
What's the value of ranked choice voting?
Voting turnout did drop some last year, though it's unclear why that was the case. Only about 35% of eligible Salt Lake City voters cast ballots in last year's election, down about 5 percentage points from 2017.
Swensen noted that it's still up considerably when compared to municipal elections before the vote-by-mail era. Trishman added that in her communication with Salt Lake City residents, people seemed to understand the method, so she didn't believe it made "a significant dent" in voter participation.
Weber State University's Social Issues Team, the university's Walker Institute and the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office coordinated together a recent study of 700 Utah voters, half of whom voted in the traditional winner-takes-all method in 2021 and the other half voted using ranked choice voting.
The study found that the traditional voting method was viewed as easy by nearly twice as many people as the ranked choice voting method. But those involved in the study liked that ranked choice voting increased the number of options on the ballots, said Olivia Hoge, Utah's elections management coordinator.
Both the study and Salt Lake City surveyed candidates in last year's election, resulting in feedback from dozens of people who ran for office. The Salt Lake City survey, the responses of 12 of 19 people, found that the new method helped influence people to run for office along with other interesting observations.
"(Some candidates) felt there was increased civility between candidates," Hoge said. "They felt like there was additional funding spent on the campaign efforts. They felt like there was increased community engagement and they felt like there was more incentive to work with other candidates."
The Weber State survey found that only about 17% of 70 candidates who responded disliked a shorter election cycle. In Salt Lake City, most candidates who responded said that they would have preferred having a primary election before the general election, something that is optional with the ranked choice voting pilot program.
Salt Lake resident George Chapman, who ran for the council's District 5 seat last year, critiqued ranked choice voting because of this.
"(It) decreased real debate and resulted in reducing (the) focus on the best two candidates," he said, during a City Council meeting last week.
Chapman added that he believes ranked choice voting led to more campaign spending, which benefited those who raised the most money.
Time is ticking
While most of the focus of the 2023 election will be on the mayoral race, the election will also decide council districts 2, 4 and 6.
Last week's meeting was purely informational and it's unclear when the council will decide on the matter. A vote on opting into the program is not yet on any posted agendas and there are still several months for the city to opt into the program.
The city will also have the option to use ranked choice voting in 2025 before the pilot program wraps up in 2026.
