Another Heber City Council meeting, another debate on the pros and cons of ranked-choice voting. Though there was one consensus reached Tuesday — city councilors want to hear from Heber City residents before casting their ayes or nays for or against the voting method.
In a 3 to 1 vote with City Councilor Mike Johnston opposed and City Councilor Sid Ostergaard absent, it was decided to implement a call-to-action campaign encouraging Heber City residents to email their opinions on ranked-choice voting to the City Council.
Ryan Bunnell, Heber City’s public information officer, is leading the effort. He said citizens will need to provide their name, address and, potentially, voter identification number. Then, residents will be asked to rank how they feel about the voting method and can expand on their viewpoint.
A formal action item has been proposed for the City Council to vote for or against ranked-choice voting at the April 15 meeting. The April 5 meeting was canceled.
This month, Bunnell was tasked with presenting an overview of possible surveying options to the council. Citing a tight deadline, he said it was no easy task.
“A third party, non-bias contract would be the best way for us to say that this is an unbiased result,” Bunnell said. “We don’t have time for that. The extreme other side is to just throw a Facebook poll out there.”
Bunnell said that because of the divisiveness of the topic, he was against any avenue involving social media. In search of an unbiased party that would accurately canvass Heber City’s voting population, Bunnell said he approached the Hinkley Institute of Politics, which is under the University of Utah umbrella.
“I let them know that I was doing a presentation in a matter of days. And there was an awkward silence,” Bunnell said, adding that he clarified he would need to submit the survey by Thursday of the same week. “She actually laughed at me a little bit.”
Preferential voting history
Ranked-choice voting has been used to elect city officials in Utah, and it is primarily used when voters choosing among more than two candidates.
According to a Utah Valley University examination of the voting method, ranked-choice was first advocated for by conservative activists in the mid-1990s. Later, the Utah Republican Party implemented ranked-choice voting in party elections beginning in 2002.
Today, 10 Republican-led states have prohibited the voting method.
Ranked-choice voting in Utah’s local elections occurred after the passage of House Bill 35 in 2018. The legislation established “requirements and procedures for conducting an election” under that initial pilot program. That included the completion of ballots, vote counting, recount provisions, canvassing, and coming to a resolution if there is a tie.
A “sunset date” for the pilot program was set for eight years, or until May 1, 2026.
Payson and Vineyard were the first cities to adopt ranked-choice voting in 2019. Twenty-one other cities followed by opting into the pilot program in 2021. All of the participating cities sit within Cache, Utah, Salt Lake, Grand and Wasatch counties.
According to that Utah Valley University analysis, there is a flow of operations when tabulating votes. When the votes are cast, the first-choice votes are counted. When one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, that candidate is declared the winner.
If none of the candidates has more than 50% of the vote, the candidate with the lowest votes is eliminated. Then, those votes are reallocated to the second-choice candidate. Next, the votes are recalculated. When one candidate secures more than 50% of the votes, that individual is declared the winner.
Heber City used ranked-choice voting for elections in 2021 and 2023. The decision made on April 15 will determine whether to use ranked-choice voting in this year’s races, when the mayor and two City Council seats will be on the ballot.
This week, Park City opted to use ranked-choice voting for its 2025 election.
Ranked-choice results
The Utah Valley University report on preferential voting opinions in Utah dissects two surveys performed by Y2 Analytics — a Salt Lake City-based market research and data analytics group — that break down Utah voter’s reaction to ongoing ranked-choice voting.
Conducted in 2021 and 2023 from “likely and confirmed voters,” the survey concluded that “about the same number of Utah voters prefer single-vote plurality as those that prefer RCV (ranked-choice voting).”
In 2023, 81.5% found that ranked choice was either somewhat easy or very easy, while 18.5% indicated the opposite. And 90% of participants indicated that they were either very confident or somewhat confident that their ballot would be counted accurately. Just under 10% said they were “less than very confident” that their ballots would be accurately counted.
Without a significant difference between 2021 and 2023 results, 89% of those canvassed indicated they were either somewhat confident or very confident in fair election outcomes.
In 2023, the survey found “about the same number of Utah voters think RCV should be used in more Utah elections.”
Last year, the Sutherland Institute found through a separate survey that just over half — 51% — of Utah’s voters are somewhat or strongly interested in using a ranked-choice voting method for their city or town elections. It also found 60% of Utah’s likely voters think ranked-choice voting should remain as an option for local elections.
Heber’s opinion
Heber City’s council meeting March 4 proved the preferential voting method is a contentious topic not only in the city, but on the council as well.
While City Councilor Scott Phillips voiced his opinion in favor of ranked-choice voting, Councilor Yvonne Barney and Heber City Mayor Heidi Franco stated their opposition.
The city councilors and mayor remained steadfast in their points of view Tuesday.
Phillips said the voting method ensures “an actual majority,” but Franco insisted that the method results in undervotes.
Heber City Clerk Trina Cooke and Heber City Attorney Jeremy Cook were asked to provide a presentation on ranked-choice voting at the April 15 council meeting.
“We’ll come back next meeting and explain both of those issues, what the state code means and what undervoting means, because I do think that there’s potentially some confusion as to when you say your vote doesn’t count and what that means,” Cook said.
Phillips, in response to Bunnell’s presentation of survey options, encouraged the City Council to use the Utah Valley University survey presented on March 4 by Kelleen Potter, former Heber City mayor and Utah Ranked Choice Voting executive director, and former Utah County Clerk Josh Daniels.
Franco, however, was unsure about the bias of the survey.
“I don’t know whether it was independent of them [Potter and Daniels],” Franco said. “I thought that because they promoted it so much that it was not an independent study.”
Ultimately, City Councilor Aaron Cheatwood moved to implement a public call-to-action in which Heber City residents would submit their opinion via email to the entire council. Bunnell said residents will be prompted to email Heber City Council at [email protected].