S.F. takes lead with instant runoff votingBy Steven Hill
Published October 11th 2004 in San Francisco Chronicle
On Nov. 2, San Francisco will embark on an innovation in democracy that
has the rest of the nation taking notice: The city's voters will elect
seven seats on the Board of Supervisors using a method called
ranked-choice, or instant-runoff voting.
Proposition A, passed by voters in March 2002, enacted ranked-choice voting for use in all local offices, including mayor, district attorney and city attorney (but excluding school board or community-college board). Ranked- choice voting, which has been used for decades in other nations, simulates a series of runoff elections in a single election. With ranked choice, voters mark their first-, second- and third-choice candidates for each race. If your first choice gets eliminated from the "instant runoff," your vote goes to your second choice. Your second and third choices will be your "insurance choices" in case your first choice can't win.
The runoff rankings will be used to determine which candidate has support from a popular majority (more than half of voters), and accomplish this in one election so that we don't need to hold a "delayed runoff" in December. Millions of tax dollars will be saved, candidates won't need to raise more money for a second election (holding down campaign costs) and the election will be decided in November when voter turnout tends to be highest.
Ranked choice also offers something for those tired of polarized politics and mudslinging campaigns. Whether at local or national levels, ranked choice encourages coalition-building. Because winners may need to attract the second or third rankings from other candidates' supporters, they have to be careful about what they say about those candidates. Already in most of San Francisco's seven supervisorial races, we have seen less mudslinging, more coalition- building and issue-based campaigning than in previous years. That feature would be a relief if replicated on state and national levels.
Because ranked choice also frees candidates from the spoiler charge, it allows independent candidates to run and introduce fresh ideas into electoral debate. New candidates can push important issues that often are ignored in this era of poll-tested campaign bites and appeals to undecided swing voters. Voters are liberated to vote for these candidates knowing that, even if their first choice can't win, their vote will go to their more realistic candidate as their second or third choice.
With bipartisan support from Republicans and Democrats like John McCain and Howard Dean, legislation for ranked choice has been introduced in 22 states. Los Angeles, Seattle and New York City are monitoring San Francisco's rollout. Recently, 72 percent of Berkeley voters adopted ranked choice for local offices, as have the voters in Santa Clara County and student governments at two dozen universities like Stanford and Harvard.
As with any change like this, there is naturally some confusion. San Francisco voters can do their part by spending some time learning the new system by visiting www.sfrcv.com. Two important guidelines: 1) use your rankings for three different candidates; 2) it's best to use all your rankings. In fact, your second and third rankings cannot help defeat your top-ranked candidate, because they only will be counted if your first choice gets eliminated. So there's no advantage to ranking only one candidate ("bullet voting") or ranking the same candidate three times. Just as San Francisco has led the nation in so many ways -- from anti-war protests to gay marriage -- San Francisco now is leading the United States with modern democratic methods. It is something to be proud of.
Proposition A, passed by voters in March 2002, enacted ranked-choice voting for use in all local offices, including mayor, district attorney and city attorney (but excluding school board or community-college board). Ranked- choice voting, which has been used for decades in other nations, simulates a series of runoff elections in a single election. With ranked choice, voters mark their first-, second- and third-choice candidates for each race. If your first choice gets eliminated from the "instant runoff," your vote goes to your second choice. Your second and third choices will be your "insurance choices" in case your first choice can't win.
The runoff rankings will be used to determine which candidate has support from a popular majority (more than half of voters), and accomplish this in one election so that we don't need to hold a "delayed runoff" in December. Millions of tax dollars will be saved, candidates won't need to raise more money for a second election (holding down campaign costs) and the election will be decided in November when voter turnout tends to be highest.
Ranked choice also offers something for those tired of polarized politics and mudslinging campaigns. Whether at local or national levels, ranked choice encourages coalition-building. Because winners may need to attract the second or third rankings from other candidates' supporters, they have to be careful about what they say about those candidates. Already in most of San Francisco's seven supervisorial races, we have seen less mudslinging, more coalition- building and issue-based campaigning than in previous years. That feature would be a relief if replicated on state and national levels.
Because ranked choice also frees candidates from the spoiler charge, it allows independent candidates to run and introduce fresh ideas into electoral debate. New candidates can push important issues that often are ignored in this era of poll-tested campaign bites and appeals to undecided swing voters. Voters are liberated to vote for these candidates knowing that, even if their first choice can't win, their vote will go to their more realistic candidate as their second or third choice.
With bipartisan support from Republicans and Democrats like John McCain and Howard Dean, legislation for ranked choice has been introduced in 22 states. Los Angeles, Seattle and New York City are monitoring San Francisco's rollout. Recently, 72 percent of Berkeley voters adopted ranked choice for local offices, as have the voters in Santa Clara County and student governments at two dozen universities like Stanford and Harvard.
As with any change like this, there is naturally some confusion. San Francisco voters can do their part by spending some time learning the new system by visiting www.sfrcv.com. Two important guidelines: 1) use your rankings for three different candidates; 2) it's best to use all your rankings. In fact, your second and third rankings cannot help defeat your top-ranked candidate, because they only will be counted if your first choice gets eliminated. So there's no advantage to ranking only one candidate ("bullet voting") or ranking the same candidate three times. Just as San Francisco has led the nation in so many ways -- from anti-war protests to gay marriage -- San Francisco now is leading the United States with modern democratic methods. It is something to be proud of.
