Ranked Choice Voting for Denver Municipal Elections
Patty Cordova | Published on 10/29/2023
Ranked Choice Voting for Denver Municipal Elections
In the last two mayoral elections, Denver voters were asked to choose one person from a long list of candidates. I don’t know about you, but I had a difficult time narrowing my choice down to a single person. I kept thinking, “I wish we had Ranked Choice Voting in place. Then, I could rank my vote to reflect my 1st, 2nd, 3rd choices. Number 1 would be someone I thought would be the best mayor, number 2 could do a good job, and number 3, I could live with.”
 The League of Women Voters (LWVUS, LWVCO, and LWVD) has been supporting authorization and implementation of alternatives to plurality voting for many years. LWV Denver has adopted a position in support of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) as an alternative voting method for Denver Municipal elections. RCV allows voters to express their preferences more effectively and would improve their election experience.
LWVD members adopted Ranked Choice Voting Resolution at our 2020 Annual Meeting by an overwhelming vote. A Letter to the Editor, signed by Co-Directors of Communication, Elsie Haley and Frank Bennett, was published in The Denver Post in April, 2023--right after the costly runoff election. Since RCV is also known as “instant runoff” voting, we could save over a million dollars.
At our October 17 briefing, Linda Templin, Executive Director of Ranked Choice Voting for Colorado, identified RCV as a key reform to voting that will strengthen our democracy for future generations. Denver’s City Clerk and Recorder, Paul Lopez and Todd Davidson, Director of Denver Elections Division, acknowledged some of their concerns about RVC, but they also confirmed their office’s capability to implement RCV.
Let’s continue to urge the members of the City Council of Denver to take the steps necessary to have RCV implemented in our municipal elections.
Take a few minutes to read ourResolutionadopted by the LWVD at the annual meeting inMay 2020 and theLetter to Editor April 17, 2023.
Patty Cordova
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