Chris Jerdonek has represented FairVote in California since 2005. Chris received his doctorate in mathematics from the University of California at Davis, where in 2004 he won the Henry Alder Prize for Excellence in Teaching. He was the founder of Davis Choice Voting, which grew out of a successful student campaign in 2002-2003 to adopt choice voting for student senate elections elections.

These elections were successful, but because they challenged status quo results, they also demanded students actively defend their wins and learn to fully measure and communicate how well the system was doing in promoting full representation of the student body.

Students were well prepared in 2004 when, following four successful choice voting elections at the university, the Davis City Council appointed a 9-member Governance Task Force to study choice voting's potential for City Council elections. Led by Chris, Students were regular participants in the commission's deliberations about ways to elect the city council. Through their efforts, the Task Force in April 2005 decided to make choice voting its primary recommendation to the city council. In 2006, the Council approved an advisory measure on choice voting which, if successful, could lead to a binding vote by 2008.

Since moving to the Bay Area in 2005, Chris has published articles about the impact of instant runoff voting in San Francisco and been a key advisor to reformers in Alameda County.

jerdonek at fairvote dot org