Pat Kernighan Op-Ed Endorsing IRV
PAT KERNIGHAN: Oakland Voters To Decide Whether to Join Other California Cities in Using Instant Runoff Voting
By Oakland City Councilmember Pat Kernighan
August 6, 2006
Last week, Councilmember Nancy Nadel and I succeeded in persuading a majority
of our fellow Oakland City Councilmembers to put a measure on the November 2006
ballot allowing Oakland voters to decide whether they want to implement Instant
Runoff Voting (IRV) for City elections. We were backed up by great advocacy and
election expertise by several community-based organizations. I've been working
toward this moment for the last five years and, frankly, the going has been very
slow.
It's high time Oakland voters had the chance. In November 2000 voters approved
Measure I, which provided that alternative legal voting methods such as instant
runoff voting (IRV) be used to the greatest extent feasible in order to increase
voter participation. In January 2002 an Elections Task Force, on which I
participated, submitted a report recommending in part that the June Nominating
elections with their notoriously low turnouts be eliminated by consolidating all
municipal office elections into the November General election and by implementing
IRV.
Last month Alameda County, which conducts the City's elections, eliminated
one of the two remaining hurdles. The County just signed a contract for voting
machines and software to support IRV. The vendor is required to support IRV
beginning in November 2007, a deadline we will work to meet.
Only one hurdle remains. In order to implement IRV for Oakland elections,
voters must pass a Charter Amendment. The City Council vote to put the matter
on the November ballot puts the decision in voters' hands, where it should be.
If voters approve the measure, the first IRV election would take place in November
2008, eight years after they approved Measure I.
The Importance of Instant Runoff Voting
For a long time I've viewed Instant Runoff Voting as an important step in
increasing the number of voters who participate in making the important decisions
about who represents us. I'm convinced that IRV will result in municipal officials
elected by a larger percentage of voters. Over the past eight election cycles,
voter turnout consistently has been higher in the General than in the Nominating
elections, ranging from 23% to 96% higher. Often, important positions - Mayor,
City Councilmembers, City Attorney, City Auditor - have been decided in the
low-turnout June Nominating Elections. Too many voters sit out these elections -
only 46% voted in the June 2006 elections. Thus, they lose the opportunity to
influence the outcome and, as a consequence, a minority of voters makes the
decision.
Because of the depressed voter turn out in primary elections, especially in
areas of Oakland where minority and immigrant populations predominate, the
implementation of IRV can substantially increase voter turn out for all
demographics, including minority and immigrant populations. Otherwise,
many of the offices up for votes will be determined without the input of a
vast majority of the immigrant and minority population.
Increasingly, I'm concerned about young voters turned off by electoral
politics. I want to encourage them to participate in local elections. IRV
would appeal to those who sit out elections because they feel their preferred
candidates are considered long shots. Now they can vote their hearts, knowing
that their votes will not be discounted simply because their preferred candidates
are not likely to win.
Finally, there are important benefits to taxpayers and voters. IRV saves
municipalities and taxpayers the costs associated with Nominating elections.
For these reasons I'll be urging voters to vote for IRV as I campaign this
Fall. I'd like to acknowledge the considerable help of the League of Women
Voters, Common Cause, FairVote.org and several other organizations in preparing
legislation and a background report, mounting press conferences, and answering
my colleagues' questions. If you'd like to read the report submitted by
Councilmember Nadel and me on the Pros/Cons of Preferential Voting/Instant Runoff
Voting (IRV) dated June 29, 2006, click here.
Patricia Kernighan was elected to represent District 2 on the Oakland
City Council in May 2005. During her first year in office, she has fought
for safer and cleaner neighborhoods, jobs, affordable housing, and after
school programs for youth. Among the key priorities for her first full-term
are to expand after-school and children's recreation programs, to continue
to improve neighborhood parks and playgrounds, and to fully implement
community policing.
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