Surprising Salt Lake City – multiracial democracy in an unlikely place
Surprising Salt Lake City – multiracial democracy in an unlikely place
Ranked choice voting elections have brought diverse representation to one of the nation’s most conservative states...just like it has in New York City and other places
Only the most cynical pundits and naysayers could fail to be impressed by ranked choice voting’s continual march forward. Political reform is a tough business, but not only has RCV been adopted in many dozens of cities and states in recent years, but the range of places and players adopting it is also impressive…from Republicans in Virginia and Utah to Democrats in New York City, Minneapolis and San Francisco.
I want to shine a spotlight on the impressive story playing out in Salt Lake City, Utah. Utah is perhaps most famous in the nation’s pluralistic legacy as the centuries old home of Mormonism. All religions are a little strange, in my view, having grown up Catholic with its odd miracles and rituals about resurrection and transforming the body and blood of Jesus Christ into a little thin wafer that is cannibalized by churchgoers on Sunday.
But the Mormon Church has one of the strangest foundation myths of all, including the originator, Joseph Smith, with a seer stone who proclaimed that a pair of fantastic spectacles gave him supernatural powers of revelation. His successor as leader, Brigham Young, was “sealed,” polygamist-style, to over 50 women with 16 of his wives popping out 56 children.
Miracles indeed.
When I visited Utah’s capital, Salt Lake City, I was impressed with the Mormon’s enormous Salt Lake Temple, shining in alabaster, and the Family History Library, the world's largest genealogical repository. Like modern-day Rome is filled with ruins and artifacts dating back to the Roman Empire, Salt Lake City is peppered with relics from its Mormon and frontier pioneering past.
That austere history makes the racial and political transformation of Salt Lake City in recent years all the more remarkable. The city is much more racially diverse than it used to be. Today it is about 65% white (the same as Portland, Oregon), 20% Latino, 5% Asian, 3% Black and 8% are people of two or more races. More than half of new students are minorities and the Salt Lake City school district today is majority-minority. One old Morman meetinghouse today is used as a Buddhist temple, so is another one that now houses a Catholic Church which has a mostly Vietnamese congregation. And the Mormon influence has been declining with only about 40% of Salt Lake City’s population affiliated with the Mormon Church, and polygamy is no longer practiced (at least not officially). Salt Lake City also has a sizable Muslim community.
Ranked choice voting arrives
Following this racial transformation came a political resurrection in this city of 200,000 people. In 2019, Salt Lake City elected its first ever person of color, a Latina, to its city council. Then, in 2021, Salt Lake City switched its city council elections to using ranked choice voting. The impact was immediate.
In the very first RCV election, people of color won a majority of seats. Not only that, but a majority of city council members identified as LGBTQ+ — in the land of Mormonism, also known as Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Voters and elected officials alike were excited to see a dramatic shift in representation. As council member Darin Mano said, “Representation matters…it’s different to be around allies and to be represented by people who have true, real, lived experience being a person from a diverse background.”
Councilwoman Victoria Petro-Eschler, who represents the city’s racially diverse west side, said “This diversity is important because of what it means for how work gets done in our city.” City councilmember Alejandro Puy is a Latino immigrant, and he said the city is “about the working-class people.”
“I think my own experience is an important experience to bring to the table,” Puy said. “To see a person that had to work two or three jobs to make ends meet, to be able to pay for my own college education. I understand the struggles of many on the west side and in Salt Lake City.”
In the 2023 elections, using RCV for the second time, the diverse city council majority was maintained, and in the first use of RCV in Salt Lake City’s mayoral election, the female incumbent won reelection.
With such stunning success at producing “mirror representation” that broadly resembles the breadth of SLC constituencies, is it any surprise that the right-wing MAGA Republicans who dominate state politics are trying to follow the example of other MAGA states like Florida, Montana, South Dakota and Tennessee in banning RCV?
From the desert to the Midwest to the coasts
Beyond Salt Lake City, ranked choice voting has continued its stunning record of increasing diversity of representation in many cities, whether in enormous megalopolises or in smaller and less traditionally diverse locations.
The Midwest is contributing mightily to the RCV wave. Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota are both very different cities than Salt Lake City, yet using RCV elections has resulted in dramatic increases in diversity.
St. Paul has seen a remarkable rise in representation for people of color and women since ranked choice voting was implemented. In 2017, St. Paul elected its first Black mayor. In the 2023 elections, St. Paul elected an all-women city council, and six of the seven councilors are women of color. That is quite a change from before RCV implementation, when the city council included only one woman and one person of color.
All seven councilmembers-elect issued a joint 2023 press release, with newly elected councilmember Anika Bowie saying, “We ran a race with a heart to serve everyone no matter their race, gender, income, religion, or sexual orientation. This election brought out historic turnout and a wide range of choices on the ballot, thanks to ranked choice voting.”
In nearby Minneapolis, the diversity of the City Council has increased steadily with each new RCV election. The current council reflects the diverse array of communities, ethnicities, and backgrounds in the city. In recent years using RCV elections, Minneapolis elected its first Mexican American and Hmong American council members. In 2021, Minneapolis elected its first majority-people of color city council (eight out of 13 members). The first Somali American and first Latino members, elected to the council in previous years, won reelection. In Minneapolis’s 2023 RCV elections, the city elected its ninth council member of color.
A similar success story has unfolded in New York City, the nation’s largest metropolis. In 2021, New York City implemented ranked choice voting for its primary elections, and the campaign season became more positive and collaborative. New York elected Eric Adams as its second Black mayor, and picked the most diverse city council in its history. For the first time, New York City has a female – in fact a woman of color – majority. Thirty one women won seats on the 51 seat council in November 2021, filling 61% of the council seats. 26 women of color now sit on NYC’s City Council, making history and bringing gender equity to the nation's largest, most diverse and most influential city. Before RCV, women held only 14 seats, and women of color never won more than a handful.
Two city councilwomen became the first out queer Black women elected to the city council, another councilwoman, at 23 years old, became the youngest-ever elected; another became the first Muslim woman and one of the first South Asian council members. Another councilwoman is the first Colombian-American serving, another is the first Indian American, and two others are the first Korean American members. Adrienne Adams, the current Speaker of the New York City Council, is African-American.
Like most city governments, New York has long been a male clubhouse, usually dominated by old-guard elites despite the city’s great diversity. No longer. Now new voices and rising generations have a seat at the table, which sets up a more inclusive and democratic future. Candidates themselves embraced the spirit of coalition-building and inclusiveness. Rather than highlighting their opponents’ shortcomings, candidates made efforts to establish connections with voters who supported their opponents. One councilmember, Nantasha Williams, said, “If I saw a lawn sign for someone else, I would go to the house and be like, ‘Hey! I agree with them on that. Will you rank me second?’ Something I would’ve never done in a non-RCV election.”
Additionally, RCV candidates from different backgrounds were able to run without needing to “wait their turn” in fear of taking votes away from a similar candidate, also known as “splitting the vote.” As pointed out in a FairVote report, RCV contributed to an impressive rise in representation for women and people of color in New York City, just as it has in Salt Lake City, Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Steven Hill @StevenHill1776
Such a informative article of the advancement re: RCV!
I sent this over to democracy defender, Mary Trump.
Viviane DeLeon
An excellent article about the success of RCV in a large and diverse city (and state). It has been interesting to see the arguments against RCV gradually wither in recent years: RCV is too complex for voters to understand, RCV wastes ("exhausts") too many votes, RCV is too expensive, RCV involves excessive delay in counting, RCV has too much bias against this party or that, RCV results in loss of trust in electoral systems, and so on.
Alas, never voiced by those opposed to RCV is the concern - perhaps their real concern - that RCV reduces the control political parties have in elections and increases the influence of voters. Never voiced is the concern that RCV encourages too many "certain folks" to run for office and perhaps even get elected. Never voiced is the concern that too many "certain folks" might even be encouraged to vote because their vote might have more influence. Never voiced is the concern that democracy might be fine in theory but those pesky voters need to be kept under control.
In my opinion these "never voiced" concerns are the real concerns of those opposed to RCV. But in politics voiced concerns are often quite different than the unvoiced (real) concerns. Voiced concerns have to sound good on the surface (often quite enough) and play well with the public. Unvoiced (real) concerns often don't and are better left unvoiced.
RCV is inevitable. As a country we may be behind most other advanced democracies, but we are catching up. Salt Lake City is ahead of the curve, as is Utah. Who would have guessed?