Dear Editor,

As a local resident, I have a lot of opinions. One of those opinions is about the upcoming election. This is my personal opinion and not the opinion of the board of trustees, who I am sure also have personal opinions on this subject.

Our previous Nederland BoT meeting included a discussion on how we intend to fill open seats for the Mayor and some Trustees. Mayor Taylor suggested that we consider a method called ranked-choice voting (RCV), an electoral system in which voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. I’m told that we used RCV at least once before in Nederland.

How does RCV work? On your ballot you would rank your mayor/trustee choices numerically. Any candidate who wins a majority of first-preference votes 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, lifting the second-preference choices indicated on those ballots. A new tally is conducted to determine whether any candidate has won a majority of the adjusted votes, and the process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority.

In Colorado, Telluride, Basalt, Carbondale, and Boulder (2023) are using RCV. I agree with Mayor Taylor that this might be a good fit for Nederland. Ranked choice voting ensures that candidates with the most votes and broadest support win, so voters get the representation they want.

Candidates who are opposed by a majority of voters can never win ranked choice voting elections. RCV levels the playing field for all candidates and encourages candidates to take their case directly to you with a focus on our issues. Candidates are encouraged to seek second choice rankings from voters whose favorite candidate is somebody else. You are far less likely to rank as your second choice a candidate who has issued personal attacks against your favorite candidate.

From our previous Board discussion, it seems we have two choices for filling possible Trustee vacancies – appointing the two candidates who ran but did not win, or running a new election. If we do decide to run a new election, at least 90 days are required after Mayor Taylor announces a decision to step down. RCV is something we might consider for future elections, but not any “special” election to choose Mayor Taylor’s replacement - we need more discussion & community support.

Perhaps we should consider Ranked Choice Voting for future elections. Fewer than 400 people voted in our April 5 process. If you are considering a run, please reach out to Miranda Fisher (TownAdmin@nederlandco.org) with questions you might have, and start participating in our BoT meetings – in-person or online. And by all means, study up on our town’s issues and vote.

Tom Mahowald

Nederland