San Francisco IRV Amendment
July,
2001
CHARTER
AMENDMENT
PROPOSITION
___
Describing and
setting forth a proposal to the qualified voters of the City and
County of San Francisco to amend the Charter of said city and county
by amending Section 13.101, repealing the current Section 13.102, and
adding a new Section 13.102, to provide for the election of
the Mayor, Sheriff, District Attorney, City Attorney, Treasurer,
Assessor-Recorder, Public Defender, and members of the Board of
Supervisors using a ranked-choice, or �instant run-off,� ballot, to
require that City voting systems be compatible with a ranked-choice
ballot system, and setting a date and conditions for
implementation.
The Board of Supervisors hereby submits to
the qualified voters of said city and county at an election to be
held on March 5, 2002, a proposal to amend the Charter of said city
and county by amending Section 13.101, repealing the current Section 13.102, and
adding a new Section 13.102, so that the same shall read as
follows:
Note:
-
Additions are
single-underline italics Times
New Roman;
-
deletions
are strikethrough italics Times New
Roman.
-
Board
amendment additions are double
underlined.
-
Board
amendment deletions are strikethrough normal.
Section 1. The San
Francisco Charter is hereby amended, by amending Section 13.101, to
read as follows:
SEC.
13.101. TERMS OF ELECTIVE
OFFICE.
Except in the case
of an appointment or election to fill a vacancy, the term of office
of each elected officer shall commence at 12:00 noon on the eighth
day of January following the date of the
election.
Subject to the
applicable provisions for municipal runoff elections of
Section 13.102, the elected officers of the City and
County shall be elected as follows:
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At the general
municipal election in 1995 and every fourth year thereafter, a
Mayor, a Sheriff and a District Attorney shall be
elected.
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At the statewide general election in 1996
and every fourth year thereafter, four members of the Board of
Education and four members of the Governing Board of the Community
College District shall be elected.
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At the general municipal election in 1997
and every fourth year thereafter, a City Attorney and a Treasurer
shall be elected.
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At the statewide primary election in 1998
and every fourth year thereafter, an Assessor-Recorder and Public
Defender shall be elected.
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At the statewide general election in 1998
and every fourth year thereafter, three members of the Board of
Education and three members of the Governing Board of the
Community College District shall be elected.
The election and terms of office of members
of the Board of Supervisors shall be governed by Section
13.110.
Section 2. The San
Francisco Charter is hereby amended, by repealing current Section
13.102, as follows:
SEC. 13.102.
MUNICIPAL RUNOFF ELECTIONS.
If no
candidate for any elective office of the City and County, except the
Board of Education and the Governing Board of the Community College
District, receives a majority of the votes cast at an election for
such office, the two candidates receiving the most votes shall
qualify to have their names placed on the ballot for a municipal
runoff election. If no candidate for Board of Supervisors receives a
majority of the votes cast within the district, the two candidates
from the district receiving the most votes shall qualify to have
their names placed on the ballot for a district runoff election. A
runoff election for the office of Mayor, Sheriff, District Attorney,
City Attorney and Treasurer, or a district runoff election for
Supervisor, shall be held on the second Tuesday of the next ensuing
December. A runoff election for Assessor-Recorder and Public
Defender shall be held at the next general
election.
Section 3. The San Francisco Charter is
hereby amended, by adding a new Section 13.102, to read as follows:
SEC.
13.102. INSTANT RUNOFF ELECTIONS.
(a) For the
purposes of this section: (1) a
candidate shall be deemed �continuing� if the candidate has not been
eliminated; (2) a ballot shall be deemed �continuing� if it is not
exhausted; and (3) a ballot shall be deemed �exhausted,� and
not counted in further stages of the tabulation, if all of the
choices have been eliminated or there are no more choices indicated
on the ballot. If a ranked-choice ballot gives equal rank to two or
more candidates, the ballot shall be declared exhausted when such
multiple rankings are reached. If a voter casts a ranked-choice
ballot but skips a rank, the voter�s vote shall be transferred to
that voter�s next ranked choice.
(b) The
Mayor, Sheriff, District Attorney, City Attorney, Treasurer,
Assessor-Recorder, Public Defender, and members of the Board of
Supervisors shall be elected using a ranked-choice, or �instant
runoff,� ballot. The ballot shall allow voters to rank a number of
choices in order of preference equal to the total number of
candidates for each office; provided, however, if the voting system,
vote tabulation system, or similar or related equipment used by the
City and County cannot feasibly accommodate choices equal to the
total number of candidates running for each office, then the
Director of Elections may limit the number of choices a voter may
rank to no fewer than three,. The ballot shall in no way interfere
with a voter�s ability to cast a vote for a write-in candidate.
(c) If a
candidate receives a majority of the first choices, that candidate
shall be declared elected. If no candidate receives a majority, the
candidate who received the fewest first choices shall be eliminated
and each vote cast for that
candidate shall be transferred to the next-ranked candidate on that
voter�s ballot. If, after this transfer of votes, any candidate has
a majority of the votes from the
continuing ballots, that candidate shall be declared
elected.
(d) If no
candidate receives a majority of votes from the continuing ballots
after a candidate has been eliminated and his or her votes have been
transferred to the next-ranked candidate, the continuing candidate
with the fewest votes from the
continuing ballots shall be eliminated. All votes cast for
that candidate shall be transferred to the next-ranked continuing
candidate on each voter�s ballot. This process of eliminating
candidates and transferring their votes to the next-ranked
continuing candidates shall be repeated until a candidate receives a
majority of the votes from the
continuing ballots.
(e) If the
total number of votes of the two or more candidates credited with
the lowest number of votes is less than the number of votes credited
to the candidate with the next highest number of votes, those
candidates with the lowest number of votes shall be eliminated
simultaneously and their votes transferred to the next-ranked
continuing candidate on each ballot in a single counting
operation.
(f) A tie
between two or more candidates shall be resolved in accordance with
State law.
(g) The
Department of Elections shall conduct a voter education campaign to
familiarize voters with the ranked-choice or �instant runoff,�
method of voting.
(h) Any
voting system, vote tabulation system, or similar or related
equipment acquired by the City and County shall have the capability
to accommodate this system of ranked-choice or �instant run-off�
balloting.
(i)
Ranked-choice, or �instant runoff,� balloting shall be used for the
general municipal election in November 2002 and all subsequent
elections. If the Director of Elections certifies to the Board of
Supervisors and the Mayor no later than July 1, 2002 that the
Department of Elections will not be ready to implement ranked-choice
balloting in November 2002, then the City shall begin using
ranked-choice, or �instant runoff,� balloting at the November 2003
general municipal election.
If
ranked-choice, or �instant runoff,� balloting is not used in
November of 2002, and no candidate for any elective office of the
City and County, except the Board of Education and the Governing
Board of the Community College District, receives a majority of the
votes cast at an election for such office, the two candidates
receiving the most votes shall qualify to have their names placed on
the ballot for a runoff election held on the second Tuesday in
December of 2002.
APPROVED AS TO
FORM:
LOUISE H. RENNE,
City Attorney
___________________________
MAXWELL S.
PELTZ
Deputy City
Attorney
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