ROAD TO RANKED-CHOICE VOTING
March 4, 2008: City voters approve a charter amendment for ranked-choice voting, with 5,659 in favor and 3,044 against. The amendment says it will end the format of a plurality deciding elections for mayor, City Council members and municipal judge. The amendment allows for ranked-choice voting to begin as soon as the 2010 election.
2010 to early 2017: No ranked-choice voting system is ready to be submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office for certification, so city elections continue to be decided by a plurality. June and July 2017:
The City Council twice votes to delay implementation of ranked-choice voting until after the March 2018 election. The ranked-choice voting module by the software provider has not been certified.
Aug. 30: Five city residents — Maria Perez, Craig O’Hare, Ellen Ackerman, Sage Bird and Anne Noss — file an emergency petition to the state Supreme Court, asking justices to order the city to implement ranked-choice voting for March.
Sept. 1: The 2018 election cycle officially begins as candidates for mayor and City Council seats pick up nominating petitions. Sept. 21: A panel of three Supreme Court justices denies the petition. Sept. 27: The secretary of state certifies an upgraded software election system for use in all elections statewide in 2018. It includes a ranked-choice voting module.
Sept. 29: The same group of five petitions the state District Court in Santa Fe to order the city to implement ranked-choice voting.
Wednesday: District Judge David Thomson orders the city to use ranked choice voting in the March election, saying the necessary software is available. Mayor Javier Gonzales, who is not seeking re-election, says he will ask the City Council to appropriate $300,000 for voter education on the new election system.
Monday, Dec. 4: The City Council will meet “to set a course forward” on election policy.