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Utah Ranked Choice Voting

Utah Ranked Choice Voting

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Case Study: Ranked Choice Voting in 2009 Senate Election

Filling an Open Seat in the Senate

In 2009, Senator Greg Bell left an open seat in the Senate. In order to replace Senator Bell, District 22 held a ranked choice election on September 12, 2009. 259 if the 267 delegates showed up to place their vote.

8 Candidates: 1 Winner

Delegates were given a ballot with 8 candidates to rank. By ranking all the candidates on one ballot, instant runoff voting could determine a clear majority winner. Votes were tabulated and at the end of each round, the candidate with the least number of votes was eliminated.

In the end, Stuart Adams was the majority winner. Adams would replace Senator Greg Bell as the District 22 Senator.  

Cream of the Crop

Michael Johnson, the District Republican chair, was interviewed about the use of instant runoff voting in the Davis County Clipper.  He stated,

“The comment was made many times, in some elections you are forced to choose the lesser of two evils. In this situation, everybody felt we were picking from the cream of the crop”

(15 September 2009).

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