Heber City Council kept the discussion short and sweet Tuesday — ranked-choice voting is out for 2025 elections. Traditional voting is back in.
City Councilor Scott Phillips, who spoke in favor of ranked-choice voting during the March 4 and 18 meetings, kicked off the ranked-choice debate with a short speech and a motion to reject the continued use of preferential voting.
“Ranked-choice voting has worked well in the past. It has made elections more civil and helped people feel more connected to the process,” Phillips said. “But the conversation around it has gotten clouded by misinformation, and it’s creating more division than necessary.”
Phillips said the topic had simply become too divisive.
“At the end of the day, the results of the election will be the same no matter which voting system we use, and the people’s choice will be heard,” he said. “Given the division this issue has caused, I believe it’s time to put it to rest. I’m going to vote for traditional voting in the 2025 election not because I think it’s better, but because I think the fighting needs to stop.”
While Heber City used ranked-choice voting for the 2021 and 2023 elections, councilors have been butting heads during the last three council meetings over the continued use of the method. Mayor Heidi Franco and City Councilor Yvonne Barney both voiced concerns that, despite it being a cost-saving option due to the absence of a primary election, ranked-choice voting would be too complicated for community members.
Franco posted to a Wasatch County independent politics Facebook page on April 11 explaining that she is “not in favor” of ranked-choice voting. Franco encouraged community members to fill out a survey expressing their disinterest in the voting method and to email the Heber City Council to do the same. Franco also listed out her ranked-choice voting pros and cons on her website, The Mayor’s Report.
Franco and two other council members will be on the November ballot.
Elsewhere in the Wasatch Back, Heber City was not the only place considering implementing ranked-choice voting. Park City Municipal last month formally opted-in to use the method for the general election in November. One dissenter split that vote.
Heber City sought community input after a 3-1 vote on March 18 approving a public outreach campaign led by Public Information Officer Ryan Bunnell. At the time, Barney said she heard from dozens of residents who opposed ranked-choice voting.
City Councilor Aaron Cheatwood said on Tuesday that number reached hundreds.
“I am glad, frankly, that not all of the people that have written in are in this room because we would literally be violating every fire code,” he said. “I think we’ve had a lot of people show up to different issues over the years, but I don’t know that anybody’s ever written in that many times.”
Cheatwood added that after receiving survey results from the community, the City Council saw nearly 80% of Heber City residents spoke in opposition of ranked-choice voting. He said that’s part of why he was pleased by the compromise to move away from ranked-choice voting in Heber’s municipal elections.
But, he was also simply pleased to see so many community members sharing their opinion.
“You know, one of the things I ran on when I ran for this office was hoping for more public engagement,” Cheatwood said. “Boy, did we get it.”