Stop Wasting Millions on Unnecessary Runoffs: Santa Clara County's Path to Better Elections
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 3 hours ago
Santa Clara County just spent $13.1 million on a single runoff election, held on December 30, when half the voters who participated two months earlier couldn't make it back to the polls. The Board of Supervisors has the authority to fix it today, and every day they wait risks costing millions more.
The Problem
On December 30, 2025, Santa Clara County held a special runoff for county assessor that cost about $13.1 million; combined with the November special election, total costs are projected at roughly $26 million for a single county office. That money could instead support clinic hours, social workers, and community safety programs that are currently squeezed by budget cuts. Turnout in the runoff was around 20 percent, a drop of about 53 percent from the first round. In other words, more than half of the voters who weighed in the first time effectively had no say in the final outcome.
These patterns are not unique to Santa Clara County; off‑cycle and special elections around the country routinely produce older, whiter, and more affluent electorates, while younger voters and people of color tend to participate at lower rates, deepening representation gaps that already show up in major elections. The reality is people are busy with work, school, and taking care of family members. Holding a second, low-turnout runoff election virtually guarantees that the final decision is made by a narrower, less representative slice of the county.
The Solution: Ranked Choice Voting in Special Elections
Ranked choice voting (RCV), lets voters rank candidates in order of preference on a single ballot. If no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, an instant runoff happens by reallocating backup rankings until someone passes 50 percent, eliminating the need for a separate runoff weeks or months later. Santa Clara County voters actually approved the use of RCV (also called instant runoff voting) in 1998 via Measure F, but implementation stalled for years while officials waited on capable voting equipment.
In 2023, the state Legislature passed AB 1227, which explicitly authorizes the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to adopt RCV for county offices, including special elections. The county’s voting system can now support RCV, and cities around the Bay Area (including Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley, San Leandro, and others) have been running RCV elections for years. What’s missing is not legal authority or technology; it’s a Board decision to actually turn on the system voters asked for more than two decades ago.
Why Runoffs Are So Wasteful and Unrepresentative
Special elections are often off‑cycle, which means they get less media coverage, fewer resources for outreach, and lower overall turnout than November general elections. When you layer a contingent runoff on top of that (requiring voters to vote a second time) turnout typically drops further, with the steepest declines in lower-turnout communities and among younger and Latino voters. Research on youth and Latino participation shows persistent turnout gaps even in high‑profile contests, and those gaps widen when the election is low‑salience or poorly timed.
In the December 30 runoff, these structural problems were amplified by the calendar: election administrators and local reporters noted that the timing fell squarely during holiday travel and year‑end obligations, with campaigns scrambling to reach voters who were distracted or out of town. The result is a vicious cycle in which the communities with the most at stake, particularly younger residents, renters, and communities of color, have the least influence over who manages billions of dollars in public resources. An instant runoff would eliminate the problem of trying to schedule both the special election and a possible runoff within the statutory-required periods while avoiding holidays.
Cost and Voter Understanding: Common Objections Answered
Santa Clara County’s Registrar of Voters has already modeled the costs of RCV implementation, estimating roughly $2.7 million in one‑time voter education and a bit over $1 million in incremental costs per special election (see p. 228 of this agenda packet). That is a fraction of the $13.1 million price tag for just one runoff—and unlike runoff spending, education and system upgrades build lasting capacity that carries forward to future contests.
Critics sometimes say voters will not understand RCV, but real‑world experience suggests otherwise. Bay Area cities that use RCV report that voters adapt quickly and often feel more empowered to support their true first choice without “wasting” their vote. A 2024 EMC Research poll commissioned by Cal RCV found that 64 percent of likely Santa Clara County voters support using ranked choice voting in countywide and local elections, with strong backing across racial groups; in Bay Area cities that already use RCV, more than 90 percent of voters say they understand it and majorities want to keep it.
Why Santa Clara County Is Uniquely Positioned to Act
Few places have as clean a path to reform as Santa Clara County. Voters approved instant runoff voting in 1998, the Legislature has now passed a special statute (AB 1227) empowering the Board to implement RCV for county offices and special elections, and the voting equipment is certified to run RCV contests. Meanwhile, neighboring jurisdictions like Oakland and San Francisco have shown that RCV can replace expensive, low‑turnout runoffs while maintaining or improving voter understanding and representation.
If the Board of Supervisors takes up this authority and adopts an RCV ordinance for special elections, the next vacancy would be filled in a single, higher‑turnout election rather than two rounds with shrinking participation. If they do nothing, taxpayers will keep paying for off‑cycle “do‑over” elections, and the same skewed turnout patterns will continue to sideline communities already fighting for a real voice in county government.
What You Can Do Next
Adopting RCV for special elections does not require a new ballot measure; it requires the Board of Supervisors to use the authority that voters granted in 1998 and the Legislature reaffirmed in 2023. Residents can email, call, or speak at Board meetings to urge supervisors to support an RCV ordinance for special elections, citing the $13.1 million price tag of the December runoff, the 53 percent turnout drop, and strong local support for RCV.
For more detail and resources you can share with neighbors, reporters, and elected officials, see:
Read Cal RCV co‑founder Tom Charron’s op‑ed on why it’s time for Santa Clara County to adopt ranked choice voting.
Learn more about how ranked choice voting works and where it’s used.
Review AB 1227, the 2023 legislation that authorizes Santa Clara County to implement RCV.