Santa Clara County held a special runoff election for county assessor on December 30, 2025, at an estimated cost of $13.1 million to taxpayers. The election saw voter turnout plummet by 53% compared to the initial election, and the winning candidate actually received fewer total votes than in the first round. This expensive, low-turnout runoff exemplifies the problems that ranked choice voting (RCV) could solve.

FairVote argues that RCV would eliminate the need for costly runoff elections by allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference during the initial election. If no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, the system conducts instant runoffs by redistributing votes until someone reaches 50%. Santa Clara County is uniquely positioned to adopt RCV, having passed Measure F in 1998 which pre-authorized the change, purchased compatible voting machines in 2019, and benefited from state legislation (AB 1227) specifically enabling the county to implement the system. Advocates suggest starting with special elections for county offices to demonstrate cost savings and improve democratic participation.

Full article: https://fairvote.org/santa-clara-county-runoff-turnout-dropped-53-ranked-choice-voting-is-the-solution/

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