Committee reviews proposed local ranked-choice voting ordinance, asks for follow-ups

The Committee of the Whole reviewed a draft ordinance to implement ranked-choice voting for local elections and asked staff for follow-up information on costs, timing and how multimember seats would be handled.

Human Resources Committee members noted local interest in ranked-choice voting and the committee’s desire to match the state approach where possible. The city clerk told members the additional software module would cost about $14,000 upfront with about $12,000 annually thereafter; that could delay final results (with vote-by-mail systems the clerk expects results within the first week after election day, but possibly not on election night).

Clerks and election staff explained that the county’s vendor (Dominion) supports a “single vote transfer” method for multi-member districts but not every variant; the assembly could also designate individual seats to avoid multimember voting complexity. Staff recommended additional outreach to the School Board (the committee had not received a direct School Board response) and further work to decide whether to convert multimember seats to single-seat contests or adopt single-transfer multimember counting.

The committee’s intent was to surface questions; no motion to adopt the ordinance was made. Members asked staff to return with more precise timing and cost estimates and an invitation to the School Board to respond in writing or in a joint conversation.

Ending: Staff will return with detailed timing and cost estimates and documentation from Dominion on multi-member counting options; the committee intends further public discussion before forwarding an ordinance to the full assembly.