Op-Ed: Ordeal to fill Swalwell's seat exposes a broken system — and a better alternative
Jun 27
1 min read
Cal RCV board director Paul Haughey argues that ranked choice voting would have filled Eric Swalwell's vacant District 14 seat in the June election instead of sending Alameda County into an expensive August runoff. He notes that special election runoffs draw roughly a quarter of general election turnout, and that California's top-two system regularly lets vote-splitting push the least-preferred candidates onto the November ballot. He also makes the case for a top-five primary followed by an instant runoff in November, which would cut primary spending and leave voters with more real choices.
