The Denver City Council is asking voters to change the way the city elects the body’s two at-large members through Referred Question 2G on the November ballot.
If approved, the change would significantly shake up the political dynamics of the elections, requiring the positions to be selected through a majority vote in separate elections — rather than through a top-two combined race. The current process usually results in plurality winners.
The question appeared on the ballot after the council narrowly approved the referral in a 7-6 vote in August. Questions can be placed on the ballot by a vote of the council or through a citizen-organized petition.
What are at-large seats?
Denver’s council has 13 members. Eleven are elected by people living in geographic districts, and two are elected by the entire city’s electorate to represent all of Denver.
Those two at-large seats currently appear as one candidate race on the ballot. Voters are permitted to choose two candidates. The top two vote-getters are then announced as the winners, making the election system based on a plurality of votes.
What would 2G do if passed?
Referred Question 2G would split the at-large seats into two separate races for “At-large A” and “At-large B” positions. Candidates would choose which seat to run for, and each seat’s election would require a majority to win. If no candidate receives a majority initially, then the race would go to a runoff election between the top two finishers.
The council’s two at-large members, Sarah Parady and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, both won their seats in 2023 with less than 25% of total votes (again, with voters being able to cast up to two votes each).
The change would make the at-large races function more similarly to the races for mayor or clerk and recorder, both of which are citywide and require a majority vote, with a runoff if necessary.
What do supporters say?
Councilmen Kevin Flynn and Darrell Watson brought the proposal to the council, arguing that at-large council members should be elected in the same way as the rest of the council. The 11 other council members are elected by a majority vote, including a possible runoff if no one receives a majority initially.
They said the change would also decrease undervoting, which is when voters select only one candidate instead of the two allowed in the single at-large race. Flynn suggested that voters do this to prevent any other candidates from getting support and hurting their preferred candidate’s chances of winning.
What do opponents say?
Both current at-large council members opposed the change, saying they didn’t think the way it’s structured under the proposal would improve the system. Both pointed to the fact that candidates would be forced to arbitrarily decide whether to run for the “At-large A” or “At-large B” seats, even though both positions are intended to play the exact same role of representing the entire city.
The change would mean that if a resident prefers two candidates who both are running for the same at-large seat, they wouldn’t be able to select both of those people. Gonzales-Gutierrez said she would support a change to a majority-winner system if the two seats were staggered in different election cycles, rather than listed separately on the same ballot.
Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, who represents northeast Denver’s District 8 and often votes alongside Parady and Gonzales-Gutierrez, alleged the sponsors were targeting the current at-large members. The three are some of the most progressive members of the council.
“This policy feels like it unfairly targets council people who are actually incredibly effective and are moving their city in a direction that I think a lot of folks who have been in power are having a really tough time adjusting to,” she said during the council’s referral vote in August.
Flynn denied the allegation, saying he started working on the proposed changes in 2021, long before Parady and Gonzales-Gutierrez ran for office.
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