Opinion: LA Charter Reform: How Ranked Choice Voting Ends the 'Lame Duck' Primary Problem
May 14
1 min read
In Los Angeles, council members who lose in the primary can stay in office for six to nine months, and this CityWatch piece argues ranked choice voting would end that lame-duck period by consolidating races into a single high-turnout general election. The change, endorsed 10-1 by the Charter Reform Commission, would save about $500,000 per avoided runoff and ease pressure on the city's public matching funds. RCV would also prevent wasted votes when candidates drop out after early voting starts, as happened with more than 27,000 ballots in the 2022 mayoral race.
