FORT COLLINS, Colo. — For the first time, Fort Collins voters will use ranked choice voting to elect a mayor and city council members during November's election.
Fort Collins voters approved the switch to the new voting method in 2022 with 58% of the vote. For the past few years, local election officials have been working to educate people on ranked choice voting, which allows people to rank candidates in order of preference instead of voting for one person.
Ranked choice voting has faced criticism for being too complicated for voters in a climate where it's already difficult to get people to vote in local elections.
"I don't think the ranked voting works that well," said Mike Fountain, a Fort Collins voter. "It is confusing, absolutely."
Other residents told Denver7 they believe giving voters more choices will incentivize them to vote in local elections.
"I feel like once you set the precedent, more people will get along with it. So, it’s not that it’s hard for people to comprehend, it’s just that they need to see it to understand it," said Fort Collins resident Peter Bowman. "I like ranked choice voting because it allows you to choose the next politician that you would vote for instead of it being like the most popular politician."
"It’s not confusing," said Molly McGuire, a Fort Collins voter. "My only concern would be the tallying and being sure that it was all fair and equal and timely."
Denver7 spoke with Fort Collins City Clerk Delynn Coldiron and Larimer County Clerk Tina Harris about residents' questions and concerns with the voting method.
How does ranked choice voting work?
Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank candidates in their order of preference instead of voting for one person. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the candidate with the least amount of votes is eliminated. The people who chose that candidate as their top choice will then have their second choice of candidate counted. This continues until one candidate receives more than 50% of the votes.
What happens if I don't rank all of the candidates?
The city clerk and county clerk said your ballot will be counted even if you don't rank each candidate. However, if your top candidate is eliminated during any of the tabulation rounds, you will miss out on having your vote count toward any other candidates.
Will ranked choice voting delay election results?
Larimer County Clerk Tina Harris said the new voting method will not delay results, and the county will have unofficial results posted at the same time as previous elections. The county clerk said people will be able to see a visual of the tabulated votes on the county's website, which will show how each candidate performed in each round and when they were eliminated.
Harris said the Larimer County Clerk's Office spent around $16,000 on a license for new equipment to tabulate ranked voting ballots.
Will ranked choice voting decrease voter turnout because it's "too complicated?"
Fort Collins City Clerk Delynn Coldiron told Denver7 she doesn't believe the new voting method will deter people from casting their ballot, partly because of the local ballot issues drawing the attention of voters this November. Coldiron also said she does not believe ranked choice voting is too complicated for people to understand.
"If you think about it, just in the course of our daily lives, we use this. Rank your favorite sports teams, rank your favorite restaurants," said Coldiron. "So then translating that into a ballot and just helping them understand how that works makes more sense to them."
Harris said it's hard to tell right now if the new voting method will affect voter turnout. She said coordinated local elections normally see less turnout than presidential elections, but it doesn't mean they are less important.
"I encourage everybody to get out and vote, specifically in the coordinated elections, in the municipal elections, in the county elections," Harris said. "You know, there will even be some state measures on there as well. These are the important ones, because they're the ones that really impact our day-to-day."
The two clerks said they have been working for the past year to educate voters on the new method through booths at farmers' markets and the county fair, podcasts, radio interviews, and informational videos posted online.
Friday, Oct. 17, is the last day county clerks in Colorado can send out ballots in the mail. If you have not registered to vote by mail and would like to, you have until Monday, October. 27. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
