San Francisco
Examiner December 11, 2002
Goodbye to December runoffs
BY STEVEN HILL Special to The Examiner
TUESDAY, San Francisco again found itself in the
middle of a December runoff election. Once more, the campaigns
turned nasty and voter turnout dropped. Fortunately, San Francisco
voters adopted a better way in March -- instant runoff voting.
Starting in November, San Francisco will begin using
instant runoff voting (IRV) to elect local officials. IRV achieves
the goal of a runoff -- determining the candidate supported by a
majority of voters -- without the downsides of December runoff
elections.
Instant runoff voting changes the distasteful tactic
of winning by attacking your opponent. IRV provides incentives for
candidates to emphasize issues, build coalitions and find common
ground. That���s because the winning candidates may need the
second-place ranking (the runoff vote) of some of their opponents���
voters. Criticism of opponents will be based on true policy
differences, rather than gratuitous attacks.
IRV will bring relief in other ways, too. For
instance, elections will be finished in early November, giving us
back our holiday season. Winners will be determined when voter
turnout is highest, instead of in low-turnout December elections.
And candidates won���t have to raise money for two elections,
reinforcing campaign finance reform.
Also, IRV will save San Francisco taxpayers millions
of dollars because we won���t have to pay for the unnecessary December
election. There will be some initial implementation costs for
upgrading voting equipment, but that one-time cost will be more than
offset by cost savings from the first IRV election, and significant
tax savings will be realized in each subsequent year.
Some have wondered if the Department of Elections will
be able to administer such an election. Actually, the role for the
Elections Department changes very little with IRV. Most of the work
to implement IRV will be done by the voting equipment vendor,
Election Systems and Services. ES&S will be responsible for
modifying the existing equipment, the Optech Eagle, and for getting
any changes in hardware, software and procedures approved by
California���s Secretary of State. All of this is standard operating
procedure for change in any voting equipment, and ES&S has
established a timeline that works for the November 2003
election.
The larger task faced by the Department of Elections
will be to educate voters about the new system. Voters will need to
understand that they now have the option of indicating a first
choice, a second choice and a third choice. The plan is to educate
through various channels, including public service announcements,
mailings to organizations and voters, press releases to the
mainstream and ethnic media, a Web site, community forums, the voter
information pamphlet, visual displays in the precincts and more. The
candidates, and their endorsing organizations, also will play a
role, instructing their supporters to rank candidates. By Election
Day 2003, information telling voters to rank their candidates will
be widespread.
In fact, IRV will make life simpler for the Department
of Elections, since they will not have to gear up for a December
election while they are still trying to finish a November
election.
Some have wondered if it is possible to delay the
first instant runoff voting election beyond November 2003, to give
San Francisco more time. This is not possible. The charter amendment
specifically established a deadline of November 2003 for the first
IRV election. To disregard this date would be to violate the
charter. The implementation of IRV no more can be delayed than the
implementation of any other charter amendment or law.
If for some unforeseen reason the vendor fails to
deliver on time the equipment that can handle instant runoff voting,
San Francisco will do what the Australians and Irish have done for
decades: use paper ballots and count by hand.
Regardless of how we count the ballots in next
November���s elections, voters will list first, second and third
choices, and we���ll use an instant runoff to determine the
winners.
So get ready. Instant runoff voting is coming,
November 2003. Goodbye, December runoffs!
[Steven Hill is senior analyst for the Center for
Voting and Democracy and one of the authors of the charter amendment
for instant runoff voting. He also is author of ���Fixing Elections:
The Failure of America���s Winner Take All Politics��� (Routledge Press,
www.FixingElections.com).]
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