City Council revisits ranked choice voting

A ballot drop box off of Marsac Avenue next to City Hall. Photo: TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah – The Park City Council will hold a special meeting Monday to reconsider its decision to use ranked choice voting (RCV) in the 2025 election. Councilmember Bill Ciraco, who originally voted to adopt RCV, said he wanted to revisit RCV after reviewing additional information regarding the RCTab tabulation software used in Utah elections. He, along with Councilmembers Jeremy Rubell and Ed Parigian, supports revisiting the decision, while Councilmember Tana Toly opposed the sudden reversal, which came up at City Council’s April 24th meeting.

The decision to adopt RCV came in mid-March after the Utah legislature declined to extend the state’s ranked choice voting pilot program, which is set to expire after this year.

The push to reconsider RCV also follows pressure from Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson, who urged Park City leaders to reverse their decision in an April 14 letter. In it he cites a 2024 report that claims 9 additional votes out of 164,861 were granted to a candidate when tabulating an election in Alaska and Utah uses the same software. Davidson has a controversial record, facing an investigation for past election-related conduct.

Why it matters

With ranked choice voting, Park City would skip a primary election. This brings upcoming elections for two city council seats and Park City’s mayor seat to the heart of the matter. Instead of a primary, all candidates for mayor and two city council seats would appear on the November ballot, with voters ranking their choices. Winners would be decided through instant runoff rounds, aiming to reflect majority support without a separate summer election.

Both Tanya Toly’s and Jeremy Rubell’s city council seats are up for re-election this year. Toly has said she plans to seek another term and Rubell has not yet said if he plans to seek re-election.

Last week, Councilmember Ryan Dickey announced he was running for Mayor. Dickey was absent for the April 24th meeting when Ciraco suggested council revisit their prior decision.

“The net effect is an unplanned, last minute acceleration of the filing deadline for the council races by two months, back to June 1.”

Dickey suggested Ciraco, an incumbent, made the recommendation to reconsider the council’s decision on RCV was a strategic maneuver to try and catch potential opponents off guard by changing the form of the election, he said.

For his part, Ciraco declined to comment further on the issue ahead of Monday’s meeting.

The council’s special meeting, including a public hearing, is scheduled for Monday at 4 p.m. at City Hall.