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Vineyard voters team up to mock test ranked-choice voting ballots Oct 15, 2019, during a one-hour demonstration on how the process will work.

Genelle Pugmire, Daily Herald

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Voter envelopes sit in a bin at the Utah County ballot center in Provo on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022. Completed ballots had already been removed from the envelopes and processed.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald file photo

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Utah cities have until May 1 to decided whether or not they will participate in the state’s ranked-choice voting pilot program. As of Thursday, five of the eight Utah County cities that previously have participated in the program made public decisions for how their ballots will look this November.

Three cities have chosen to continue using ranked-choice and two will return to traditional voting, while the remaining three have not made or announced their selection.

Ranked-choice voting, or RCV, is a system in which voters rank candidates in order of preference for a public office, rather than selecting a single candidate (traditional voting). Ranked-choice voting is used in some form in 18 states, according to Ballotpedia. Utah, though, is the only state to implement a pilot program.

The three cities using ranked-choice voting in the 2023 municipal elections are Vineyard, Payson and Genola, according to a Utah Ranked Choice Voting press release. Vineyard and Payson were among the first cities to participate in the program, using RCV for the 2019 and 2021 municipal elections.

“For the last two election cycles, Vineyard has been part of a ranked-choice voting pilot program in Utah, which is running through 2026. In the previous cycles, voters in Vineyard have responded well to ranked-choice voting and had very positive experiences with it. Both residents and candidates say it has helped to foster positive campaigns. The council also voted for it because it has saved the city money since there is no primary. Vineyard prides itself on being on the forefront of innovation in government, and we look forward to contributing our data and results to the pilot program,” said Vineyard Deputy Recorder Kelly Kloepfer.

Elk Ridge, which used RCV for the 2021 mayoral election, and Springville, which used RCV in 2021 to select the city’s mayor and three council members, have opted out of the program. Elk Ridge Mayor Robert Haddock confirmed the return to traditional voting to the Daily Herald on Wednesday while Springville discussed its decision during a Feb. 7 City Council meeting.

“I thought it was greatly misunderstood and some people thought it was unpatriotic,” Springville Mayor Matt Packard said, adding he didn’t have a preference “one way or another.”

After discussing a return to ranked-choice voting during an April 12 City Council meeting, Lehi officials delayed their decision until Tuesday. Representatives from Woodland Hills and Goshen did not respond to requests for more information.

Support, or lack thereof, for RCV occurs across party lines. The pilot program was implemented in 2018 with the passage of House Bill 35 by votes of 22-0-7 in the Utah Senate and 67-3-5 in the Utah House of Representatives. The only active legislator to vote against the program was Rep. Norm Thurston, R-Provo. Then-Rep. Adam Robertson of Provo voted no while then-Rep. Keith Grover, now a state senator, was absent.

In the years since the pilot program’s passage, RCV has been a target of ire by other elected officials and Republican leaders in Utah County. Incoming county GOP Chair Cristy Henshaw told the Daily Herald she is “not a fan” of RCV while Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson wrote on his campaign website that “once any argument is presented, it can be dissected in a real situation and fall short of being a legitimate way of having a trustworthy outcome.”

On the other side, leadership for the pro-RCV advocacy group Utah Ranked Choice Voting includes several prominent area Republicans. The group’s board chair, Marc Roberts, is a former state representative from southern Utah County, while the board includes former Provo Rep. Brad Daw and Stan Lockhart, a former state GOP chair, Provo City Council member and interim president and CEO of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce.

“RCV reflects the full expression of voter will with no wasted votes, and we have numerous examples of where elections are better, faster and cheaper with high scores of voter satisfaction. Yet misconceptions about RCV still exist, so we’re continuing with our efforts to communicate the facts ahead of the deadline and beyond,” URCV Executive Director Kelleen Potter said in a press release.

The candidate filing period for 2023 municipal elections will be open from June 1-7 with a primary election on Aug. 15 for cities using traditional voting.

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