Ranked choice voting in Nashville is dead — for now.

It's a blow that came after a painful stretch of three Metro Council meetings caused by technical glitches and a just "barely there" quorum in council chambers.

The voting method — which allows voters to rank more than one candidate in order to eliminate runoff elections — was short four votes Tuesday night to be included in the package of charter amendments that will be placed on the ballot for the Aug. 1 general election.

Now, Nashville voters won't get a say on the matter.

The amendment was proposed by Councilman Dave Rosenberg, who has argued the move would save the city money by doing away with "unnecessary" elections and save residents from voter fatigue.

"This was a real opportunity to enact electoral reform that is very popular where it’s implemented, easy to use, fiscally responsible and advantageous in many ways," Rosenberg said to the Tennessean.

"I’m disappointed that Nashville voters won’t get a voice on the issue," he said, adding that Metro Council couldn't "overcome" absenteeism and technical problems over the last few meetings.

Ranked choice voting would have applied in elections for mayor, vice mayor, at-large council member and district council member. Voters would rank candidates in order of preference and a candidate who receives a majority of first-preference votes would win.

If no candidate receives a majority, the candidate with the lowest vote total would be eliminated, with their votes redistributed to the remaining candidates based on the eliminated candidate's voters' order of preference.

How the measure failed

The council voted 27-7 to adopt the amendment in an initial approval on April 16, but conversations were tabled when Vice Mayor Jim Shulman was forced to adjourn due to technical issues with the voting machines and microphones.

A special meeting was held the following week, but with 11 of 39 council members absent, the issue was rolled to May.

When the vote was finally held Tuesday night, the measure — which needed 27 votes — was short by four. Six council members weren't present.

Rosenberg said he saw the absences as a combination of members who are term-limited and have "lost interest," and those who had legitimate reasons such as family issues or illness.

The measure, he said, "absolutely" would have been approved had the machines not gone down in April and if enough council members been present in the following weeks.

"People have the right to make choices on these issues," he said. "This will come back in the coming years. It's become increasingly popular ... there are more and more success stories and now we have the equipment to handle it.

The council also rejected a measure pushed by Kevin Rhoten that would have changed appointments to the Metro Planning Commission by requiring three of 10 positions to be members who live outside the city core.

The change could have ensured diversity in representation, Rhoten said.

What's on the ballot

Metro Council adopted two of five proposals members had before them.

Nashville voters will have the final say on requiring more budget information from the city and changing how appointments are made if there are vacancies on the Metro school board.

A first proposal, led by Councilman John Cooper, would task the mayor with providing more details in the annual city budget, including the city's debt. It would also require the mayor to give performance and efficiency measures from Metro departments.

The other charter amendment, led by Councilwoman Davette Blalock, looks to bring Metro into compliance with state law by filing vacancies on the Metro school board with a council member.

Currently, a vacancy is filled by the remaining school board members.

Yihyun Jeong covers politics in Nashville for USA TODAY NETWORK - TENNESSEE. Reach her at yjeong@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @yihyun_jeong.