San Jose voters will decide in March 2028 whether to use ranked choice voting for special elections. The City Council sent the measure to the ballot on June 23, 2026. By replacing a costly two-round process with a single election, RCV would save taxpayers about $1.5 million every time a special election would have gone to a runoff, while giving diverse communities a fairer shot. Take Action Now: Sign up as a San Jose supporter to help us win in March 2028. San Jose has a real

On April 29, 2026 the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Louisiana v. Callais, and the short version is this: Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the federal law that has protected voters from unfair maps for sixty years, has been significantly narrowed. For decades, if a district map had the effect of diluting the voices of minority voters, those voters could go to court. After Callais, plaintiffs now have to prove the people who drew the map intended to discrimi

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

Summary California cities use six distinct local election systems — from plurality voting to Ranked Choice Voting — each with very different rules about whether a winner needs a majority and how many voters actually participate in the decisive round. Turnout is the hidden variable that determines how representative your local election really is: primaries average as little as 10–17% voter turnout, while November elections can reach 5x that level. Plurality voting , used in m

We’ve all been there: looking at a local election ballot and feeling like our vote is more of a "strategic calculation" than a true expression of our values. We worry about "split votes" or "spoilers," and sometimes it feels like the winners don’t actually represent the majority of the community. If you’re a fan of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), you already know the solution. You know that RCV creates fairer outcomes, encourages civil campaigning, and ensures winners have true b

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.

In 2023, the people of Redondo Beach chose to eliminate costly, low-turnout runoff elections with Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), letting voters pick a majority winner in a single election, on a single day, at a fraction of the cost. Background Under the city’s old election system, if no candidate received more than 50% in Redondo Beach’s March general election, the top two candidates faced off again in a separate May runoff. Two elections. Two rounds of campaigning. Two sets of

The LA Charter Reform Commission is weighing a major change: expanding the City Council and switching to proportional ranked choice voting. PRCV would replace costly, low-turnout runoffs with a single election and make council races more competitive and inclusive. Candidates who advance to runoffs need nearly twice as much public matching money, so consolidating elections could save millions as the council grows. Read the full story at CityWatch LA for more details.

Steven Hill looks at how the growing use of ranked choice voting is changing campaign strategy, voter behavior, and representation in the U.S. He finds that RCV reduces the spoiler effect, encourages coalition-building over polarization, and makes winners earn broader support. He also flags open questions about transparency, voter education, and keeping election logistics up to speed as RCV spreads. Read the full piece at DemocracySOS for more details.

California is ready for fairer, more representative elections—and the momentum is growing. Watch Cal RCV’s October 2025 meeting for an inside look at how Los Angeles can learn from Portland, OR. Robin Ye, a Portland city council candidate and election reform leader, shares firsthand insights on Portland’s groundbreaking use of Proportional Ranked Choice Voting (PRCV). Portland’s 2024 election was a turning point: more voters saw their ballots count, more communities earned re

A study in the Journal of Election Administration, Research & Practice examines how Oakland fixed the higher-than-usual ballot error rate in its November 2024 ranked choice election. After improvements to ballot design and voter guidance, Oakland's April 2025 special election ran smoothly, and the overvote rate fell to under a quarter of the 2024 level. In that election, 99.6% of voters cast valid ballots. Read the full study, starting on page 29 of the journal issue.

Former Santa Monica Mayor Michael Feinstein argues that Los Angeles should expand its City Council and elect members by proportional ranked choice voting in multi-seat districts. He says winner-take-all districts pit communities against each other, while in Portland's three-seat PRCV elections, 87% of voters helped elect at least one winner. Feinstein contends an independent redistricting commission is necessary but not enough without ending zero-sum, single-seat races. Read

A Sacramento Bee op-ed makes the case that ranked choice voting would make Sacramento's city elections more efficient, more positive, and more reflective of the community. The authors point to evidence that RCV encourages civil, consensus-minded campaigns and gives voters more choice and more satisfaction with the results. They argue the change would benefit candidates and voters alike. Read the full piece at the Sacramento Bee for more details.

Ranked choice voting (RCV) has measurable positive impacts for voters and candidates of color, a new FairVote report finds. The report examines 448 ranked choice voting elections across 20 years – a testament to the staggering growth this movement has seen over the last two decades. Key findings from the report include: Candidates of color benefit from the RCV counting process, gaining more support as lower-performing candidates are eliminated. RCV allows several candidates o

New FairVote research finds that turnout in Sacramento's primaries is much lower than in its general elections, and the primary electorate underrepresents young voters and renters. FairVote says Sacramento could fix this by consolidating its elections into a single high-turnout contest with ranked choice voting, as other California cities have. Better Ballot Sacramento is leading the local effort. Read the full research at FairVote, and learn more at Better Ballot Sacramento.

A July 2023 FM3 Research poll of 826 likely Los Angeles voters found 71% support ranked choice voting to elect City officials — a finding that signals broad, durable appetite for election reform in LA.​ The survey, conducted July 15–23, 2023, tested RCV both with a simple description ("giving voters the option to rank candidates in order of preference") and a more detailed explanation of how votes transfer when a top candidate doesn't win a majority. Support held at 71% in bo

First City in Los Angeles County to Choose the Instant Runoff Method of Voting Redondo Beach, California - The voters of Redondo Beach have spoken and have chosen to implement Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) for the city's elections, with election night results showing 77% in favor of Ballot Measure CA 5. Also known as Instant Runoff Voting, RCV allows voters to rank their choice of candidates on the ballot and eliminates the need for a runoff election while still ensuring a major

The League of Women Voters of Alameda and its supporters want a 2024 ballot measure giving Alameda the option to adopt ranked choice voting. The piece argues RCV makes winners earn broad support, cuts down on polarization and negative campaigning, and encourages more women and people of color to run. It also notes that RCV saves the cost and delay of a separate runoff when a majority winner is required. Read the full piece at the Alameda Post for more details.

The 2022 Midterm Election is over, and although the results are still coming in, Ranked Choice Voting was used and voted to be implemented throughout the state. - The Alameda County Registrar of Voters fulfilled their promises of promptly posting RCV results on the web, and continuing eliminations until two candidates remain. - Albany had a multi-winner RCV election, also known as Proportional Ranked Choice Voting (PRCV). The final winners were determined by surplus transfers

AB 2808, introduced by Assemblymember Patrick O'Donnell (D-Long Beach), would have prohibited ranked choice voting (RCV) in all California state and local elections — including in charter cities like San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland that have used the system successfully for over a decade. The bill was held in the Assembly Elections Committee on Wednesday, April 13, 2022, after Committee Chair Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) declined to bring it to a vote. O'Donnell, a self-d