San Francisco's first use of Instant Runoff Voting is Big Success
For current updates on San Francisco's use of IRV,
please visit our new page at http://www.sfrcv.com
Media contact: Steven Hill, (415)
665-5044, [email protected]
January 17, 2005: Read FairVote's Evaluation
of San Francisco���s First Ranked Choice Voting Election,
compiling data and reports from San Francisco State University, the
Chinese American Voters Education Committee, and the San Francisco
Department of Elections.
Chinese American Voters
Education Committee (CAVEC) exit polls shows IRV is a big
success.
On
November 2, 2004, San Francisco voters made history when they went to the polls
and used ranked choice voting (also known as instant runoff voting) to elect
seven members of the Board of Supervisors (city council). All winners were
determined by Friday afternoon, less than 72 hours after the polls had closed,
and the city saved millions of tax dollars by avoiding a low turnout, December
runoff election. In addition, all winners were elected with many more votes than in previous races
for Supervisor, so more voters had a say in who their local representatives are.
All in all, it was a great success for the maiden voyage of ranked choice voting in San Francisco (see media coverage below).
Number one rankings were released on election night, and based on those
preliminary results it was obvious that three races in Districts 2, 3 and 9 were
decided because the frontrunners had too great a lead. The other four races
required the "instant runoff" to decide the winners, with results
known by Friday afternoon, November 5.
Besides Board of Supervisor, in other years ranked choice voting will be used to
elect the mayor, district attorney, sheriff, treasurer, city attorney, public
defender, and tax assessor.
Read FairVote's assessment
giving thumbs up to San Francisco's
first IRV election: FairVote reviews three measures of success
for the first election in San Francisco, addresses other topics relating to
the election and answers frequently asked questions.
Media coverage
Below are some valuable
resources about Instant Runoff Voting in San Francisco:
The Center for Voting and Democracy has numerous
documents to assist with the technical details of implementing
instant runoff voting on the city's voting equipment. Examples
include the following:
Historical information
regarding the passage of Proposition A and the implementation of IRV
in San Francisco:
For more
information about voter education and the implementation of
Proposition A, please contact:
Steven Hill
Center for Voting and Democracy
415-665-5044, [email protected]
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