CITY of ALBUQUERQUE
TWENTY THIRD COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. P-19-3 ENACTMENT NO. ________________________
SPONSORED BY: Don Harris
Charter Amendment Proposal
title
Adopting A Proposition To Be Sent To The Voters At The November 5, 2019 Regular Local Election Proposing To Amend Article II, Section 8, Of The Albuquerque City Charter Concerning Ranked Choice Voting (Harris)
body
WHEREAS, the City of Albuquerque City Charter includes an election provision requiring elected office holders to receive at least 50% of the total number of votes cast for their respective office in order to be elected, stating:
"Those persons who are candidates for Mayor or Councillor and receive the largest number of votes cast for the office in question are elected, provided the number of votes equals or exceeds 50% of the total number of votes cast for the office;" and
WHEREAS, at present, if no candidate for office meets the 50% threshold required by the Charter, a runoff election must be held within 45 days where the two candidates with the highest number of votes cast are placed on the ballot; and
WHEREAS, since the runoff provisions have been in place, the City has been required to hold two runoff elections, including a runoff election in 2013 for Council District 7 (which resulted in a city-wide election in order to also accommodate a ballot initiative), and a Mayoral runoff election in 2017, which cost the City $667,045 and $840,890 respectively ($1,507,935 combined); and
WHEREAS, in contrast to the City's current post-election runoff system, a ranked choice voting system is an electoral system in which voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. First-preference votes cast for the failed candidate are eliminated, liftin...
Click here for full text