RCV In the News

Irvine voters will decide on Measure D, which would switch city council and mayor races to ranked choice voting starting in 2028. Supporters like Councilmember Kathleen Treseder point out that Irvine candidates regularly win with less than a third of the vote, while Councilmember James Mai argues the change would be costly at a time of budget deficits. The measure only takes effect if implementation costs less than 0.23% of the city's general fund, about $750,000. Read the fu

Columnist Jerry Roberts uses Santa Barbara's 4-3 rent control vote to show how district elections can hand power to a council majority that represents far fewer voters: the four members in favor won 10,728 votes combined in their last races, while the three opposed won 19,083. He calls on the next council to put electoral reforms before voters, including ranked choice voting and a mix of citywide and district seats. Proportional ranked choice voting, which fills several seats

Three candidates in San Francisco's crowded District 10 supervisor race, Shawn Richard, DJ Brookter and JR Eppler, plan to endorse each other under ranked choice voting. Richard says teaming up is how you compete in an RCV race, and SF State political scientist Jason McDaniel notes that slates work best when campaigns drive the message home to voters. The move echoes the District 8 alliance and could consolidate votes against frontrunner Theo Ellington in later rounds. Read t

More than 50 elected officials, organizations, and community leaders have endorsed Irvine's Measure D, which would bring ranked choice voting to city council and mayor races starting in 2028. Backers include Rep. Dave Min, Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, the League of Women Voters of Orange County, FairVote, and parties from the Democrats to the Greens and Libertarians. Campaign director Branda Lin notes that Irvine candidates routinely win with less than 40% of the vote

The Bay Area Reporter covers the same District 8 ranked choice team-up, noting it is the first time in 16 years D8 candidates have run a coordinated ranking strategy. McCoy and Patel announced the alliance in Noe Valley Town Square, and Patel says it gives her underdog campaign visibility she has struggled to get. Rival Michael Nguyen says he is open to a ranked choice strategy of his own, while frontrunner Manny Yekutiel says the pact doesn't change his approach. Read the fu

San Francisco District 8 supervisor candidates Gary McCoy and Darshini Patel are asking their supporters to rank the other second, a classic ranked choice voting alliance. Whichever of the two is eliminated first could pass most of their votes to the other, which could help McCoy overtake frontrunner Manny Yekutiel. The fourth candidate, Michael Nguyen, is not joining the pact for now. Read the full piece at Mission Local for more details.

Senate Bill 1164, awaiting Governor Newsom's signature, would revise the California Voting Rights Act to recognize alternatives to single-member districts, opening a path for cities like Davis to adopt proportional ranked choice voting citywide. The Vanguard reports that Davis has seen competition collapse since switching to district elections in 2020, with research from Preston Jordan finding roughly 8 percent of at-large seats uncontested compared to 38 percent under distri

Irvine voters will decide on Measure D this November, a ballot measure that would replace the city's choose-one ballot with ranked choice voting for mayoral and city council races beginning in 2028. Voter Choice Irvine, the coalition behind the measure, argues that RCV would end the vote splitting that has let Irvine candidates win with roughly a third of the vote, and the campaign has drawn endorsements across the political spectrum, including from the Democrats of Greater I

Better Ballot Sacramento, an initiative of the League of Women Voters of Sacramento County, is building a coalition to place ranked choice voting on the city's November 2028 ballot, a change that would eliminate Sacramento's city primaries and decide every council and mayoral race on a single November ballot. Supporters point to FairVote research showing that Sacramento's primary electorate is older and whiter than its November electorate, and that three of four council races

An Orange County judge has ordered Huntington Beach to use ranked choice voting in its November 2026 City Council election, making it the first RCV contest anywhere in the county. Judge Craig Griffin chose RCV as the remedy in a California Voting Rights Act case alleging the city's at-large elections diluted Latino voting power. Irvine is separately weighing whether to put RCV before its own voters this November. Read the full piece at the Los Angeles Times for more details.

The San Jose City Council voted 8-2 to advance a ballot measure that would use ranked choice voting to fill unexpected council vacancies, but pushed it from November 2026 to March 2028 to save about $2 million in election costs. Supporters argue RCV would eliminate the expense of separate runoff elections; opponents say it adds complexity for voters. This is the council's second look at ranked choice voting in four years. Read the full piece at San José Spotlight for more det

The Irvine City Council voted 5-2 to prepare November ballot language asking residents whether to adopt ranked choice voting starting in 2028. City staff estimate RCV elections would cost between $230,600 and $710,440, plus $189,000 to $316,000 for voter education. No Orange County city currently uses RCV, though San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley have run it for years. Read the full piece at Voice of OC for more details.

CalMatters examines whether California's top-two primary delivered on its 2010 promise and finds that statewide races rarely produce the same-party matchups its architects expected. Cal RCV's Tom Charron tells the outlet that the state could improve upon top-two with an Alaska-style top-five primary paired with ranked choice voting, which could go before voters as a constitutional amendment in 2028. Reformers argue that approach would widen the field and shut down the strateg

Better Ballot Sacramento, backed by Cal RCV and FairVote, launched a campaign to bring ranked choice voting to Sacramento's mayor and City Council races. The measure, supported by the Sacramento County Democratic Party and the League of Women Voters of Sacramento County, would replace the primary and top-two runoff with a single November election won by majority. Advocates say it would save money and ensure winners have broad support, while some Republican critics worry about

Los Angeles' 13-member Charter Reform Commission released its final 301-page report, recommending that the city adopt ranked choice voting as part of a sweeping governance overhaul. Other proposals include expanding the City Council from 15 to 25 members, lowering the voting age to 16, strengthening the Ethics Commission, and reducing barriers for candidates to run. City leaders must act by June to place measures on the November ballot. Read the full story at My News LA for m

Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf says ranked choice voting pushed candidates in her city to reach out to all voters, not just a narrow base. She also credits RCV with helping more women like her run and win in Oakland. Schaaf shared her experience at RepresentWomen's 2026 Democracy Solutions Summit. Watch the clip from FairVote and RepresentWomen on Instagram.

Former Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon dropped out of the crowded 2026 Democratic field for governor and used his exit statement to call for ranked choice voting. Calderon said RCV would keep Californians from being boxed into a lesser-of-evils choice and give voters real options. Read the full story at ABC10 for more details.

In a 10-1 vote, the Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission recommended that the city adopt ranked choice voting for mayor, City Council, and other city offices beginning in 2032. The recommendation was part of a broader package of government reforms, including expanding the size of the City Council. The LA RCV Coalition, led by Cal RCV and More Equitable Democracy, has been leading the push for RCV in Los Angeles. Read FairVote's full news release for more details.

A group of Long Beach residents called RCV in the LBC is working to bring ranked choice voting to the city's elections. The Signal Tribune reports that Long Beach voters may see a measure on the November 2026 ballot that would change how the city elects its council members and other officials. Read the full story at the Signal Tribune for more details.

A December report to Santa Clara County's Citizens' Advisory Commission on Elections says ranked choice voting can save money for local governments and candidates by eliminating the need for separate primaries. The report points to the county's December 2025 assessor runoff as a cost RCV might have avoided. Read the full story at San José Spotlight for more details.