GOP legislators long had balked at a proposal by Democrat Rebecca Chavez-Houck for “ranked choice voting.” But after the central committee of the Utah Republican Party endorsed the idea last weekend, many lawmakers changed their minds. The House voted 59-12 to pass Chavez-Houck’s bill, HB349, and sent it to the Senate — where it is expected to face tougher sledding. The bill would create an instant runoff system in multi-candidate primary elections. Voters would rank their first-, second-, third-choice, etc. If no one achieves a majority initially, the lowest-vote-receiving candidate would be eliminated. Supporters of that eliminated candidate would have votes shifted to their second-choice. The process would repeat until someone wins a majority.
The Utah Republican Party earlier had pushed instead the idea of runoff elections to help ensure a majority winner in crowded-field primary elections. But it reversed course saying that solution would be too expensive and take too much time.
Its reversal also came as the party reneged on a deal last weekend. It had pledged to drop its legal challenges of a new election law if the Legislature would pass a runoff election bill. As that bill was moving forward, the party changed its mind — and said it would pursue its legal challenges anyway.
It was part of a fight over a new law, called SB54, allowing candidates to qualify for the primary by gathering signatures or through the traditional caucus-convention system.
Full Article: After unusual Republican Party support, Democrat passes election-reform bill | The Salt Lake Tribune.