Committee advances plan to elect at-large council members on separate majority ballots; sponsors, critics disagree on remedy

The Denver City Council Finance and Governance Committee on June 24 advanced a charter-change proposal that would place the city's two at-large council seats on separate ballots so each seat must be won with a majority of votes. The committee voted to send the measure to the full council by roll call (ayes: Amanda Sawyer, Diana Romero Campbell, Paul Cashman, Daryl Watson; nays: Sarah Gonzalez Gutierrez, Amanda Lewis, Amanda Sandoval).

Sponsors, led by Councilmembers Daryl Watson and Kevin Flynn and joined by several co-sponsors, said the change would align at-large elections with how other citywide officials are elected (50% plus one) and reduce the practice they described as "single-shot" voting — where some voters cast only one of two available at-large votes on a single ballot. Watson told the committee that the proposal would…