Discussion ignites surrounding ranked choice voting option in Denver

There were 17 mayoral candidates on the ballot in Denver's municipal election this week and it was always unlikely that any would capture more than 50% of the vote. The top two vote-getters in that scenario then move to a runoff election.

While that has been the approach for years, this year's election has reignited the discussion around change.

"I think we're about 175,000 voters or so, 38%, which is on the low side of some of the turnout that we've seen in municipal elections and it's probably going to be around 50% of voters that chose somebody that didn't make the runoff," Amber McReynolds said.

McReynolds is a national elections expert and former Denver elections director. She's also an advocate for ranked choice voting, which allows voters to do just that as they rank their top candidates.

"If one of the candidates gets above 50%, they're declared the winner, if not, you go to the second round and what that means then is you drop out the lowest vote-getter and you redistribute their second-place choices to the remaining candidates," she said.

It's often touted as a type of instant runoff and a way to avoid the cost of a second election. 

Denver elections staff have considered the change before and say it's one they're willing to look at again.

"For us, it's a matter of making sure it's right for Denver voters," Lucille Wenegieme, strategic advisor for the Office of Denver Clerk and Recorder, said.

Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul Lopez says he's already determined it as a viable option but the decision, he says, is out of their hands.

"It's up to the city council to be able to put that on the ballot or the citizens of this city to create an initiator ordinance for voters to consider," Lopez said. "It is a charter change. That's what it would take."

In Colorado, cities like Boulder, Broomfield and Fort Collins have already voted to move to the ranked choice voting system.