In Tuesday’s Longmont City Council meeting, council members may put the finishing touches on two questions headed for the November 3 ballot. Two ordinances on ranked choice voting and open spaces protections have arrived at their second reading.
Ranked choice voting:
This is by far the most controversial one. It draws large crowds from both sides each time city council discusses it. This ordinance would ask voters to approve electing city council members and mayors using ranked choice voting starting in 2029. This would allow voters to rank their favorite candidates in order of preference. How it works…
All ballots are tallied by first-choice votes.
If one candidate has more than 50% of the vote, they win automatically. If no one does, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated.
Votes from ballots whose first choice was eliminated, are now transferred to their second choice.
This repeats until a candidate receives a majority of votes.
Supporters say…
Voter turnout and engagement would increase, as supported by this study from the American Bar Association.
RCV is more representative of what voters want. Candidates will need to receive a majority of votes rather than a plurality. For example, Longmont Mayor Susie Hidalgo-Fahring received less than 40% of votes when she was elected with a plurality last November.
Opponents say…
It can be confusing to voters, more expensive, and harder to hand-count.
Ballot exhaustion: If a voter only ranks one candidate, and that person happens to get eliminated in early rounds, their vote no longer counts.
Before anything is decided, a public hearing will offer locals one last chance to speak their mind.
Now to open spaces…
Not so controversial. As it turns out, people like preserving Longmont’s natural land. This ordinance would ask voters to strengthen protections for open spaces by requiring a citywide vote to sell or transfer land designated as “open space.” Currently, only parks and water rights have this luxury.
The bill includes some exceptions to avoid the hassle, delay, and expense of an unnecessary election to allow for routine, low-stakes operations that don’t compromise an area’s open space nature. These include…
Rights-of-way and easements. This means the city can allow someone to use a strip of open space for something like running a sewer line under ground.
Normal open space operations. This could be something like trail management or agricultural leases.
Selling structures on open space land. An example of this is a barn left on a piece of land acquired by the city. Longmont could then sell just the barn itself and the proceeds would return to the Open Space fund.
Don’t forget…
Another question headed for the November ballot will ask voters to approve a tax increase to fund 86 more jobs in public safety over the next 10 years. This ordinance arrives for its first reading tomorrow.
Additionally, an ordinance to loosen restrictions on short-term rentals (allowing more people to rent out their houses and apartments for special events) is also on its first reading tomorrow.