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Santa Clara County supervisors postponed a full vote on ranked choice voting until after September 30, citing a fiscal crisis driven by expected federal funding cuts. Supervisors Betty Duong and Susan Ellenberg said the $4 million implementation cost was badly timed, and County Executive James Williams said the fiscal impact wasn't worth it for now. Officials said that if approved, RCV wouldn't be used until 2028. Read the full story at San José Spotlight for more details.

Josh Rosa of the Better Ballot Sacramento steering committee joins the Capitol Weekly podcast to talk about bringing ranked choice voting to Sacramento. The conversation walks through the different forms of RCV and weighs the pros and cons of the system. Listen to the full episode at Capitol Weekly.

Ahead of San Francisco's crowded 2024 mayor's race, this SF Standard op-ed explains how to make the most of a ranked choice ballot. The author's advice is to rank as many of the top contenders as you can, since lower rankings never hurt your first choice. If your favorite is eliminated, your vote moves to your next choice and you stay in the race. Read the full piece at the San Francisco Standard for more details.

Maine and Alaska are the first two US states to use Ranked Choice Voting. With RCV on the ballot in several more states this November, it’s a good chance to compare how the system works in each state and how it has affected election outcomes thus far. RCV first came to Maine when the City of Portland adopted the method in 2011. The election of controversial Governor Paul LePage with less than a majority vote twice (with only 38% in 2010) led to the push for RCV statewide. Maine adopted RCV in 2016 through a citizens’ petition and ballot measure. Because the state constitution explicitly requires that state offices be won with a plurality, Maine only uses RCV in its partisan primaries for governor, state senator, and state representative, and in both partisan primaries and general elections for US senator, US representative, and US president. Voters also approved RCV by ballot measure in Alaska, which passed with 50.5% of the vote in 2020. Measure Two included the switch from partisan (closed) primaries to an open primary, with the top four candidates moving to the general election conducted using RCV. This offers a contrast to Maine’s system where the winner of each party’s primary face each other in November. Maine has a longer history of RCV elections than Alaska. In the 2018 party primaries, only two races needed more than a single round of voting to decide the winner and in both cases, the plurality winner was also the majority winner. In the 2018 general election, 16 of the 17 races with more than two candidates were not closely competitive, and the winner received a majority of first-choice votes. The race for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in 2018 was one where RCV resulted in an ultimate winner who did not win a plurality in the first round. Sitting Representative Poliquin (R) received 46.3% over Golden (D) with 45.6%, and independents Bond and Hoar with 5.7% and 2.4%, respectively. More voters for these independent candidates preferred Golden as their 2nd of 3rd choice and he won in the final round with 50.6%. In 2020 Maine’s nine primary races and 10 general elections had more than two candidates and offered ranked ballots. In 13 races a majority winner was reached in the first round of RCV and in the rest the plurality winner consolidated their lead in subsequent rounds and won a majority. The same was true in 2022, with only four contests needing to go to subsequent rounds with no change in the first-place winner. Alaska’s primary and general elections in 2022 and the 2024 primaries are the only statewide races that have used RCV to date. In all the 2022 statewide elections, the leader in the primary won in the general election, but the open primary led to somewhat surprising results. In the Senate race three Republicans and one Democrat went to the general election. Sen. Lisa Murkowski narrowly led with 43.4% over Kelly Tshibaka’s (R) 42.6% in the first round. The fourth-place Republican’s votes went mostly to Tshibaka, but Democrat Pat Chesbro’s voters preference for Murkowski gave her the majority with 54%. In the 2022 race for Alaska’s sole U.S. House seat one Democrat, Mary Peltola, two Republicans, Sarah Palin’s and Nick Beggich, and a Libertarian (Chris Bye) advanced to the general election. Peltola won the first round with 48.8% ahead of Palin in second with 25.7%. In the second round Peltola gained 49.2%. Even though most of Beggich’s voters preferred Palin, 7,500 of them voted for Peltola and gave her the majority with 55%. In the 2024 open primary, Peltola won an outright majority with 51% of the vote, but third-place finisher Nancy Dahlstrom (20%) has withdrawn and endorsed her Beggich who came in second with 27%. In both Maine and Alaska, RCV doesn’t typically lead to a change from the plurality winner to the winner of the final vote. Where it has affected the outcome, the result was the more centrist candidate who garnered enough support to win the majority in the final round.

The Vallejo Sun explores whether ranked choice voting could make Vallejo's City Council more representative. Supporters say RCV reduces negative campaigning, since candidates still need second- and third-choice support, and prevents vote splitting and the spoiler effect. Cal RCV Executive Director Marcela Miranda-Caballero told the paper that RCV lets voters back their favorite candidate without having to vote strategically. Read the full story at the Vallejo Sun for more details.

In a 2021 study, researchers from the RCV Resource Center, University of California, Davis, the University of Iowa, and Western Washington University examined voting behavior in over 10,000 cities. Controlling for various factors, they discovered that people in jurisdictions with RCV were more likely to vote. Voter participation in RCV areas was 12.8%, compared to 10.6% nationally—a 17% increase. This increase is notable, considering the 24% difference in voter participation between states with the most and least restrictive voting laws. Why the increase? Previous research suggests RCV leads to more civility and less negative campaigning. Candidates in RCV races report more positive campaigning and voter outreach efforts. Additionally, newspaper articles about RCV elections tend to be more positive. This study further explored RCV's impact on voter outreach. Using two national surveys, they found that voters in RCV cities were more likely to be contacted by campaigns, particularly through in-person visits, mail, and email. This suggests that RCV campaigns may favor more personalized outreach methods. You can read the complete study here: Does Ranked Choice Voting Increase Voter Turnout and Mobilization? - ScienceDirect

Cal RCV's August 2024 Statewide Meeting was electric! Get updates on cities all over California that are making RCV a reality. Hear from Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, about her electoral reform journey, the RCV rollout in NYC, and more. City-Specific Updates Included: Santa Clara County by David Newswanger Richmond by Alex Banash Oakland by Marcela Miranda-Cabllero Carlsbad by Reese Harris Redondo Beach by Tom Charron Watch the recording

This past Wednesday, we hosted a statewide strategy meeting with phenomenal guest speakers from Portland, OR, Richmond, Santa Clara, and Los Angeles. In case you missed it, the recording is now up on YouTube: https://youtu.be/sVAFR9FcO7g 2:30 - How Portland Oregon got Proportional Ranked Choice Voting (Sol Mora) 20:01 - Oregon's statewide ballot measure for RCV (Sol Mora) 28:32 - Richmond, CA's effort to get RCV on the ballot for Nov 2024 (Sue Wilson & Ken White) 36:27 - An update on our progress in Santa Clara County (Allie Hughes) 40:10 - The opportunity to get Proportional RCV on the ballot for 2026 in Los Angeles We were joined by Sol Mora, Advocacy Director at Portland (OR) Communities of Color. Sol was instrumental in bringing Proportional RCV to Portland and is now working on statewide RCV adoption in our neighbor to the north! California RCV activists can learn a lot from her experience building awareness and diverse coalitions to build deep community support for this important reform. Supporters also get the latest updates on Cal RCV's progress, including updates on RCV efforts in Santa Clara County, Richmond, and Los Angeles!

NBC Bay Area reports that Santa Clara County is considering a move to ranked choice voting, with the county planning to take up the issue in summer 2024. South Bay Congressman Ro Khanna voiced support, saying RCV rewards the candidate who can build the most consensus and forces candidates to talk to everyone, not just the far right or far left. The segment notes RCV is now used in 50 cities and counties across 14 states. Watch the full segment at NBC Bay Area for more details.

FairVote looks at the razor-thin 2024 primary in California's 16th Congressional District, where 11 candidates split the vote and just 38% of voters picked Sam Liccardo or Evan Low. With ranked choice voting, the other 62% could have ranked backup choices and consolidated around viable candidates they liked. FairVote argues RCV would be an easy upgrade whether it is used in the primary, the general election, or both. Read the full post at FairVote for more details.

The Richmond City Council advanced a ranked choice voting measure toward the November 2024 ballot after a presentation at a special meeting. Mayor Eduardo Martinez said RCV would ensure elections are decided by Richmond residents, not corporations and special interests. Cal RCV Executive Director Marcela Miranda-Caballero told the council that people of color now hold 61% of elected offices in four Bay Area RCV cities, up from 38% before RCV. Read the full story at the Grandview Independent for more details.

As we have talked to voters in Santa Clara County, some have asked whether Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) leads to more elected representation for the LGBTQ+ Community. The data shows that RCV does lead to more LGBTQ+ candidates being elected into office. How does changing our elections help elect more LGBTQ+ candidates? It’s simple: RCV makes it easier for nontraditional candidates to run and win. LGBTQ+ candidates face no penalty when running against others of the same sexual orientation or gender identity – no more “splitting the vote” within the LGBTQ+ community. RCV also lets us get rid of the primary, with its older, more conservative, and less diverse electorate, and elect majority winners in the high-turnout election in November. RCV has led to more LGBTQ+ people being elected into office across the country, regardless of that region’s political ideology. Salt Lake City, in the heart of conservative Utah, used RCV for the first time for their City Council elections in 2021. RCV enabled Salt Lake City’s voters to elect a history-making Council with a super-majority of minority representation. 4 of 7 Councilmembers are openly LGBTQ+ and another 4 of 7 are people of color. In 2021, progressive New York City elected its first 3 lesbian women of color to its City Council. Locally, BAYMEC’s Board of Directors has enthusiastically endorsed Ranked Choice Voting for Santa Clara County. As Executive Board Secretary Allie Hughes notes, “BAYMEC endorsed Ranked Choice Voting because it removes barriers to entry for candidates from underrepresented communities. By leveling the playing field, RCV has led to more LGBTQ+ folks being elected, increasing the queer community’s representation.” We hope that you will stand with BAYMEC and the California RCV Coalition and support Ranked Choice Voting for Santa Clara County!