Denver Needs Ranked Choice Voting
On Tuesday, Denver held runoff elections for mayor and four city council races. This comes two months after candidates in the April 4 general election failed to win over 50% of votes. These runoff campaigns were costly, nasty, and led to lower voter turnout than in the initial election. Ranked choice voting (RCV) offers a solution to these problems as it would make Denver elections faster, cheaper, and better.
All eyes were on the open-seat mayoral race. Former state senator Mike Johnston defeated former Denver Chamber of Commerce CEO Kelly Brough with 54.7%, to Brough’s 45.3%. The mayoral race was largely focused on homelessness, affordable housing, and crime. Both Johnston and Brough are considered moderate Democrats, though Brough was endorsed by the Denver GOP, and Johnston had the support of the progressive community.
The mayoral runoff was inevitable, since seventeen candidates appeared on the ballot in April. With votes split among the vast field, Johnston and Brough collected 24.4% and 20.3% of the votes respectively in the general election, meaning that over 55% of voters didn’t see their favorite candidate compete in the runoff.
Voter turnout dropped significantly from the general election – a common problem for runoffs. In the mayoral race, there was a small but significant decrease in voter turnout – as of results available Thursday morning, about 10,000 fewer Denverites turned out for the runoff, a 6% decrease from the general election. In total, just under one-third of eligible voters participated in the runoff. Runoffs also lengthen the campaign schedule, which is both expensive and exhausting for voters.
Denver could switch to ranked choice voting as it eliminates unpopular runoff elections. RCV allows voters to rank their candidates by preference. If no candidate receives a majority of voters’ first choices, an “instant runoff” occurs using voters’ backup choices.
Johnston and Brough have both endorsed RCV, which also incentivizes candidates to appeal to larger blocs of voters, gives voters more voice, and promotes campaigning based on common ground. It’s no surprise the mayoral candidates would prefer RCV, after a long, expensive, and negative runoff campaign.
Colorado Springs, the second largest city in Colorado, similarly used a mayoral runoff in mid-May following their election on April 4. If RCV is instituted, Denver and Colorado Springs would follow other Colorado cities such as Basalt, Carbondale, Telluride, Boulder, Broomfield, and Fort Collins that are using RCV.
Ranked choice voting has proven to be efficient and cost-effective while producing majority-backed candidates; RCV has already been implemented in the largest cities in seven states, and Denver should be next.
