But will Becker, Buhler surprise?

SALT LAKE CITY – With one month to go before the primary election, candidates Jenny Wilson and Keith Christensen are leading an online demonstration election for Mayor of Salt Lake City.

Using the same ranked choice voting method implemented in San Francisco’s municipal elections in 2005, voters can choose a majority winner in one election, not two.

Ranking choice voting permits citizens to vote for their favorite candidates in their order of preference, without worrying about electing their least favorite candidate.

Because the demonstration election launched earlier this year is unscientific – as anyone can vote, and vote multiple times – the Libertarian Organizing Committee’s chairman Rob Latham is hedging the predictive quality of the mock vote.

"Ralph Becker was leading the poll, followed by Dave Buhler, until the middle of July," says Latham. "Then Wilson and Christensen received a surge of votes."

If the surge was artificial and not "organic," Becker and/or Buhler may advance in the mayoral primary, says Latham.

Wilson currently has a plurality of voter support according to the most recent opinion survey for the Salt Lake City mayoral race, but no candidate has shown support from a majority of voters so far. And to date no two candidates combined are supported by a majority of polled voters.

"The plurality winner is very often the runoff winner," says Latham. "And the demonstration election shows that most of the votes cast for the defeated primary candidates will accrue to Wilson in the general election."

"Ranked choice voting, however, would save voters, taxpayers, election administrators, candidates, and their patrons much time and money over the current two-round runoff system," says Latham.

The LPUtah contacted each campaign for its candidate’s stand on ranked choice voting for the mayor’s race and proportional voting for the city council (see table below). To date, three of the candidates' campaigns have responded.

Will the leading campaigns' apparent netroots support translate into votes for the primary election? Observers will find out on Sept. 11th.

Where the 2007 Salt Lake City mayoral candidates stand on electoral reform*

*Positions based on communication from the candidate's campaign or public statements.