The Sen. Lee conundrum. Getting rid of our current ReTrumpican Sen. Mike Lee is the bottom line. The decision by Evan McMullin to run as an Independent candidate has given Democrats a glimmer of hope that their candidate (say Kael Weston) could garner enough support to come out ahead in a three way race (Weston 34%, McMullin 33% and Lee 33%). So the question is: should the Democrats field a candidate based on this irrational glimmer of hope or should they not even have a candidate on the ballot and urge their supporters to vote for Evan McMullin? This is indeed a tough nut to crack! The most important issue is to retire Mike Lee. Can Democrats, disgruntled Republicans and Independents risk a choice between Weston or McMullin?
HB178 provides a beautiful solution to the problem: RCV — ranked choice voting. This allows voters to vote for their first choice, be it Weston or McMullin, but still prevent Lee from winning on a split ticket by specifying McMullin and Weston as their number 2 choice.
Please encourage your state Representative and Senator to support this bill.
Robert Jacobs, Cottonwood Heights
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