Ranked choice voting is making a comeback in Burlington and could be extended to mayoral elections.
The Burlington City Council on Monday advanced a measure that would ask voters whether to reimplement the electoral system in races for the city’s top office. The 10-2 vote was procedural, and the council would have to vote again before the charter change proposal appeared on the 2023 Town Meeting Day ballot.
Under ranked choice voting, voters can select multiple candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of first-place votes, the candidate with the fewest is eliminated and their votes are redistributed to voters’ next choice. The process repeats until a single candidate claims a majority.
Burlingtonians are already set to use the voting method in the 2023 council elections, but Councilor Jack Hanson, P-East District, said the city shouldn’t stop there.
“We should give (voters) the opportunity to expand the system if they so choose,” he said Monday night. (Hanson on Tuesday announced his resignation as he applies for a city job.)
Burlington has long debated whether to use ranked choice voting and, if so, in which races. After implementing the system for all city elections in 2005, Burlington jettisoned it following the 2010 mayoral election. Councilors, led by Hanson, sought to restore the system in 2020 — but Mayor Miro Weinberger vetoed the proposal. A compromise applying only to council elections won voter approval in 2021 and state approval earlier this year.
Councilor Joan Shannon, D-South District, was among those who voted in favor of the latest proposal Monday night.
“What we really want to look for is a voting system that serves democracy, that engages the public and that produces a result that is reflective of the voters’ will,” she said.
Councilor Mark Barlow, D-North District, along with Councilor Sarah Carpenter, D-Ward 4, cast the sole votes in opposition to the measure. Barlow said during the meeting that his no vote rested on his previous understanding that ranked choice voting would be “tested out” on city council elections before it could be extended to mayoral elections.
Councilor Zoraya Hightower, P-Ward 1, said Monday she’d be inclined to go further than the proposal at hand.
“Not that I necessarily think we will have the most competitive races for school board but I think the logic that we are using for mayor and city councilors also applies to school boards,” she said.