Take Action Today: Support Key Electoral Reform Legislation in California

AB 1294 — Mullin and Leno — Local Option for Ranked Voting

Please contact members of the California Senate Elections Committee to urge support for AB 1294

Your help is needed now to move key electoral reform legislation in the California Senate. In June, the California Assembly passed AB 1294, legislation by Assembly Members Mullin and Leno to give local governments (i.e. cities and counties) the option to use Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) and Choice Voting to elect their representatives. Choice Voting is a similar ranked system as Instant Runoff Voting, only designed to work when electing multiple winners, such as for a city council. Charter jurisdictions already have the opportunity to use these improved electoral systems, but three-fourths of all California cities and counties are "general law" jurisdictions and are not able to use these systems. AB 1294 would level the playing field and give all cities and counties this option.

Please contact members of the California Senate Elections Committee to urge support for AB 1294

We need your help to move this legislation in the Senate. We need you to contact the members of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments committee, and urge their support for AB 1294 when the bill is heard in committee on July 10th. You can call, fax, or email the senators below. Faxes are preferred over calls or emails, but do whatever works for you.  But do it soon, as the hearing is on July 10th. For more information, see Background or Talking Points or Supporters below. A sample letter appears below.

California Senate Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments Committee

Senator Ron Calderon *
Chair, Senate Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments
Postal: California State Capitol, Room 4088, Sacramento, CA 95814
Email: Senator.Calderon@senate.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 445-3090
Fax: (916) 327-8755

Senator Alex Padilla
Postal: California State Capitol, Room 4032, Sacramento, CA 95814
Email: Senator.Padilla@senate.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 445-7928
Fax: (916) 324-6645

Senator Carole Migden
Postal: California State Capitol, Room 2059, Sacramento, CA 95814
Email: Senator.Migden@senate.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 445-1412
Fax: (916) 445-4722

Senator Jim Battin
Postal: California State Capitol, Room 3056, Sacramento, CA 95814
Email: Jim.Battin@sen.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 445-5581
Fax: (916) 327-2187

Senator David Cogdill
Postal: California State Capitol, Room 3048, Sacramento, CA 95814
Email: Senator.Cogdill@senate.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 445-9600
Fax: (916) 327-3523

Optional 6th contact:

Senator Don Perata
Senate President pro Tempore
Postal: California State Capitol, Room 205, Sacramento, CA 95814
Email: Senator.Perata@sen.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 445-6577
Fax: (916) 327-1997

* If you can only write one letter, please write to Senator Calderon, the Chair of Senate Elections. If you can write three letters, write to the three Democrats on the committee (Calderon, Padilla, and Migden). Better still, contact all five members of the committee AND send a separate note to Senate President pro Tem Don Perata urging his support for the bill.

BACKGROUND

AB 1294, introduced by Assembly Members Mullin (D-19) and Leno (D-13), would allow all cities and counties to use ranked voting systems to elect their representatives. The bill would allow these jurisdictions to use Instant Runoff Voting for single-winner elections or Choice Voting (a ranked voting system similar to IRV) for multiple-winner elections. It would also add to the state Elections Code the guidelines and procedures that registrars and equipment vendors need to count and report ranked voting elections.

AB 1294 passed in the Assembly Committee on Elections and Redistricting on April 17th and passed through the Committee on Appropriations on May 9th. The bill passed in the full Assembly on June 6th.

In addition to the successful votes above, we are also very pleased that a number of other legislators have signed on as co-authors of the bill, including Assembly Members Mike Davis, Loni Hancock, Jared Huffman, Betty Karnette, John Laird, Fiona Ma, and Lois Wolk, in addition to the principle authors Gene Mullin and Mark Leno.

This bill is important in that most local jurisdictions are not able to use ranked voting systems under current law, and this bill would permit them to do so. Today only charter counties or charter cities can use IRV, but over three-fourths of cities and counties are general law jurisdictions and don't have these options. Over half of Californians live in a general law city, a general law county, or both. AB 1294 would give these jurisdictions these additional options, but would not mandate that any jurisdictions use these systems. In other words, it is simply permissive and gives local governments the tools they need to respond to the wishes of their voters.

Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) ensures that the winner of a single-winner election has the support of the majority of voters in a single election. By eliminating the need for a costly runoff election it saves local governments a lot of money -- about $1.6M per election in San Francisco alone. IRV also eliminates vote-splitting and spoiler effects, both of which undermine the public's confidence in the political process. Finally, IRV helps promote positive, issue-based campaigns with less negative campaigning because candidates will seek 2nd and 3rd choice votes in addition to 1st choice votes.

San Francisco has used Instant Runoff Voting extremely successfully for three consecutive elections, and all academic and survey research shows that the results have been excellent. San Francisco voters understood IRV extremely well, used it effectively, and overwhelmingly prefer it to the old two-round runoff system that they had used for decades.

Given the momentum for ranked voting building around the country -- shown last November in Oakland, Davis, Minneapolis (MN) and Pierce County (WA) -- this bill comes at an excellent time.

TALKING POINTS FOR AB 1294:

1) IRV has an extremely successful track record in its usage in San Francisco

All of the available research and surveys of the usage of IRV in San Francisco support the fact that every single demographic in the city -- defined by where they live and their race, age, gender, party and political philosophy -- preferred IRV to the old runoff system. In fact, voters prefer IRV by a three-to-one margin over the old system. Over 87% of voters said that they understood IRV perfectly well or fairly well, and voters two-to-one perceived the instant runoff voting system as more fair than the prior two-round runoff system. So from the standpoint of voter acceptance, ranked voting has proven exceptional in the last three elections in San Francisco. And in addition to this local usage, over 25 million people worldwide use IRV and have done so for many decades, showing that this is not something on the bleeding edge, but rather a proven system gaining acceptance in California and other states.

2) IRV can lead to dramatic improvements in voter participation

One of the arguments that legislators are finding particularly compelling about the bill is the potential for dramatic improvement in voter turnout as a result of using ranked voting, especially among minority communities. San Francisco saw an estimated effective tripling of voter participation overall as a result of using ranked voting (and being able to combine two elections into a single election), and as much as a quadrupling of turnout among minority and low-income neighborhoods. Significant improvements seem likely in other jurisdictions as well, and also for local elections which coincide with the statewide primary and general elections. For an analysis of how IRV led to significant improvements in voter turnout in San Francisco, see: http://www.sfrcv.org/reports/turnout.pdf

3) IRV can save local governments considerable money

There is a significant potential for cost savings by eliminating the need for expensive runoff elections, often elections with single-digit voter turnout. San Francisco alone saves around $1.6 million per election, which is real money when we are talking about local government budgets. In Los Angeles County, they had a recent runoff election for local government offices that cost $5 million dollars and only had 6% voter turnout.

4) Cities and counties deserve the opportunity to use the electoral systems that best address their unique needs . Currently, only charter cities have this opportunity, and it should be extended to all local governments. Giving general law jurisdictions the right to improve their election procedures would open up valuable new opportunities for them to achieve more representative democracy and better government. Allowing local jurisdictions to demonstrate improvements to their electoral processes allows the whole state to benefit and see what works best.

5) Our current voting systems suffer from a variety of deficits, including vote splitting and spoiler effects, and unequal representation. Spoiler and vote splitting effects can allow a candidate to be elected where the majority of people would prefer a different candidate. Our winner-take-all electoral systems ensure that a significant percentage of the population is denied representation, and this ultimately undermines the political system. In particular, minority communities suffer the most, and the Choice Voting system allowed by this legislation provides for much greater opportunities for representation than are afforded under our current at-large winner-take-all systems.

6) The lack of uniform election code support for these improved electoral systems is a significant obstacle to cities and counties and other jurisdictions that want to use these systems, and AB 1294 addresses this need. In addition, City and County officials and/or local Registrars are not put in the difficult positions of having to make up such procedures themselves.

7) AB 1294 is broadly supported
See the partial list below of organizations and individuals supporting AB 1294.

SUPPORTERS OF AB 1294 INCLUDE:

  • Californians for Electoral Reform (sponsor)
  • Secretary of State Debra Bowen
  • Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
  • Asian Pacific American Legal Center
  • California Common Cause
  • California League of Women Voters
  • California Peace and Freedom Party
  • California Public Interest Research Group
  • City Clerks Association of California
  • City of Davis, CA
  • City of Fort Bragg
  • Community Development Institute of East Palo Alto
  • Davis Choice Voting
  • Democracy for America
  • FairVote – the Center for Voting and Democracy
  • Greenlining Institute
  • Kevin McKeown, Councilmember, City of Santa Monica
  • Latinos for America
  • League of California Cities
  • Los Angeles Voters for Instant Runoff Elections
  • Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)
  • New America Foundation
  • San Mateo County Democracy for America
  • Warren Slocum, Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-Clerk-Recorder, San Mateo County
  • Yolo County Registrar of Voters Freddie Oakley

Sample Letter to Senator Calderon


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Send To: Senator.Calderon@senate.ca.gov
Subject: Support AB 1294
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Dear Senator Calderon,

I urge you to support AB 1294 when it is considered in the Senate Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments committee on Tuesday July 10th, and hope that you will consider co-authoring the bill.

AB 1294 gives cities and counties an option to use Instant Runoff Voting and Choice Voting, two ranked voting systems which have proven themselves to be both good for local governments and good for voters.

Local governments can save a lot of money by being able to elect their representatives in a single election, without the need for a costly runoff election.  San Francisco alone saves over $1.6 million per election.  Los Angeles just recently held a set of runoff elections that cost around $5 million and only had a 6% voter turnout.  That money could be better spent elsewhere, and democracy would be better served by involving more citizens in the process.

In addition, because only a single election is needed, voter turnout improves because the election is held when turnout is highest, thus including more people in the process.  An analysis of citywide races in San Francisco before and after Instant Runoff Voting was used showed that voter turnout improved by an estimated 2.7 times. 

Finally, Instant Runoff Voting works well, and voters understand it, use it effectively, and like it.  Voters in San Francisco preferred IRV by a three to one margin over their previous system, and two to one thought it more fair.
 
Let's give all local governments the option to use ranked voting.  It's only an option, not a mandate, and cities and counties at least deserve a choice.

Sincerely,

YourNameHere

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Thanks again for your help. If you have questions, please contact:

Rob Dickinson
Executive Vice President
Californians for Electoral Reform
Email: rdickinson@cfer.org
Web: www.cfer.org
Phone: 650-365-6025
Mobile: 650-544-5925

Posted July 5th, 2007 3:21 PM by Miles