HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Election Code Committee - 01/10/2022 -
City of Fort Collins Page 1
January 10, 2022
ELECTION CODE COMMITTEE MEETING
12:00 PM
COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT: Pignataro, Canonico, Ohlson
STAFF PRESENT: Kyle Stannert, Rita Knoll, Ryan Malarky, Tammi Pusheck, Carrie Daggett
CITIZENS PRESENT: Robbie Moreland, Joe Rowan, William Russell, Connor Duffy, Kathleen Schmidt,
Andrea Samson, Tom Henry Regan, Jody Deschanes
1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER
2. ROLL CALL
3. PUBLIC COMMENT
Robbie Moreland supported placing ranked choice voting on the ballot. She requested the Committee
consider closing the loophole that allowed a group to raise money for several large independent
expenditures during last April’s election without disclosing their donors.
Joe Rowan encouraged the Committee to make a concerted effort to bring in alternative points of view
during its discussions and stated much of the material being presented regarding ranked choice voting,
campaign finance, and elections in general, is largely information that has been aggregated by
influences outside Fort Collins and Colorado. He encouraged the Committee to apply strong
governance principles to the entire discussion.
William Russell encouraged beginning joint elections with Larimer County in order to help increase
voter turnout.
Connor Duffy warned of down ballot roll-off that could occur with more candidates being on the ballot
during even year elections.
Kathleen Schmidt, League of Women Voters of Larimer County Election Reform Team Chair, supported
ranked choice voting. She stated this is a local, grassroots effort to place the topic on the November
2022 ballot.
Andrea Samson discussed Loveland’s positive experience with coordinated off-year elections and
stated she believes it does increase voter turnout and has decreased costs for the City.
Tom Henry Regan, DSA Fort Collins, supported ranked choice voting and discussed his experience
with it in Maine.
Jody Deschanes reiterated Ms. Moreland’s and Ms. Schmidt’s comments and expressed support for
placing ranked choice voting on the ballot.
4. PUBLIC COMMENT FOLLOW-UP
Councilmember Pignataro thanked the speakers and stated Council as a whole will have robust
conversations about all the topics.
5. CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL OF THE NOVEMBER 15, 2021 COMMITTEE MEETING
MINUTES
Councilmember Ohlson made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Pignataro, to adopt and approve
the meeting minutes of November 15, 2021. The motion was adopted unanimously.
City of Fort Collins Page 2
6. REDISTRICTING UPDATE
Deputy City Manager Stannert noted conversations about the timing and resourcing of redistricting work
have been ongoing and the Clerk’s Office has been working with the GIS and IT departments to have
the work done by the end of April.
City Attorney Daggett stated current Code language aggressively requires redistricting on a frequent
basis, which is somewhat problematic in terms of moving residents in between districts; therefore,
Council has been specifically acting to suspend the redistricting requirement in certain situations. She
stated the prior Committee supported changing the Code to make the normal practice involve
redistricting only after new Census data is received every ten years.
Councilmember Pignataro encouraged using very explicit language regarding the times during which
redistricting occurs.
Councilmember Ohlson stated he does not yet support redistricting only every ten years and discussed
the importance of not redistricting a Councilmember out of their district. He discussed the change to
base districts on population versus voters. He requested staff provide the current general guidelines for
redistricting and noted large developments or annexations could occur in parts of town that could throw
off district numbers within a ten year timeframe.
Chief Deputy City Clerk Knoll noted redistricting used to occur before every municipal election when the
districts were based on voter registration numbers. When the switch was made to base it on
population, redistricting was changed to be every ten years based on Census data. The current Code
criteria allows for redistricting to be considered any time a change to the map is being made based on
another factor such as changing County precinct boundaries. She stated building permit data has been
used for population estimates in the off years; however, that has caused some difficulty.
City Attorney Daggett stated extrapolating population change can be done in a number of ways and
some questions arose about how to establish a reliable, consistent way to do that based on real data
and not assumptions. She suggested placing a more detailed discussion of the topic on a future
agenda.
Councilmember Ohlson stated the goal of redistricting is not perfection in terms of getting the numbers
exactly even between districts.
7. SCOPE OF MARCH 8, 2022 WORK SESSION DISUCSSION AND DIRECTION FOR STAFF
Deputy City Manager Stannert stated there will likely be two main items of focus for the work session
discussion, one being the discussion of November coordinated elections in even years, and the other
being ranked choice voting. He requested the Committee provide any additional direction for staff.
Councilmember Ohlson thanked staff for their responsiveness and the timeline. He stated it may be
beneficial for the Committee to have one extra month beyond the proposed March 8th date in order to
formulate recommendations for the full Council.
Councilmember Pignataro suggested staff bring forth some flowcharts to determine what would occur if
these items were both on the November ballot and depending on whether both or one pass.
Chair Canonico stated she would also like to see coordinated odd year elections be discussed at the
work session as well.
Councilmember Pignataro stated she would prefer coordinated odd year elections.
Councilmember Ohlson expressed support for coordinated even year elections, and stated staff has
been focused on that as well based on Committee direction, but stated he would be open to considering
odd years depending on what the overall election and campaign finance reform package includes.
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Deputy City Manager Stannert stated it seems the most important thing staff can focus on providing
information for relates to process trade-offs and implications rather than strict education.
Councilmember Ohlson stated another focus of the Committee is related to disclosure of campaign
contributions.
Councilmember Pignataro expressed concern about making too many changes at once and about not
applying a scientific method to making the changes. She stated she would like to be able to tie results
to specific actions.
Councilmember Ohlson stated the Committee and Council should focus on the changes that need to be
made electorally that are good for the community. He commented on the strong ability of voters to
make discerning decisions about each ballot issue.
Councilmember Pignataro encouraged the Committee to bring forth any proposed Charter changes to
Council as early as possible. Councilmember Ohlson concurred.
City Attorney Daggett asked if there is a consensus to look for a later work session date.
Councilmember Ohlson suggested postponing the work session one month to allow the Committee one
additional meeting to formulate recommendations.
Councilmember Pignataro stated that may be fine for candidates given redistricting will not be complete
until April.
Deputy City Manager Stannert stated he believes an April work session will also allow expedient
efficient work to continue.
Members discussed the possibility of utilizing the fifth Tuesday in March for a meeting date and staff
agreed to follow up on a proposed schedule. Members agreed this topic could be postponed from the
March 8th work session.
8. PROPOSED TIMELINE
9. FUTURE ELECTION CODE COMMITTEE DATES WITH SCHEDULING CONFLICTS
10. OTHER BUSINESS
11. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned by unanimous consent at 1:03 PM.
MINUTES APPROVED FEBRUARY 28, 2022