Salem City Council orders ranked-choice voting Home Rule Petition
City Council · Meeting of January 15, 2026
Salem City Council Committee votes unanimously to advance ranked-choice voting petition. The Government Services Committee voted 5-0 on January 15 to direct the City Solicitor to prepare a Home Rule Petition requesting state authorization to amend the City Charter to allow ranked-choice voting in local elections. Councillor Andrew W.
Varela, supported by Councillor Lydia C. King, stated that ranked-choice voting could attract a more diverse candidate pool and ensure elected officials have majority voter support. If approved by the state and voters, the system would require $12,000 for voting-machine software in year one and roughly 10 percent for annual licensing fees; eliminating primary elections would save $30,000 to $50,000 per election cycle.
In the full story:
- The complete report — 277 words
Source: the City Council meeting of January 15, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
Keep reading with a 14-day free trial
Subscribe to Salem News to keep reading this post and get 14 days of free access to the full post archives.
A subscription gets you:
- Subscriber-only posts and full archive
- Post comments and join the community
- 24x7 access to local news