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Lawsuit to Seek
IRV in San
Francisco in 2003
On August 11, 2003, a diverse
coalition of citizen groups and San Francisco voters -- including
the Congress of California Seniors, Chinese Progressive Association,
San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO, California PIRG, Center for
Voting and Democracy, Enrique Asis, Gwenn Craig, Arthur Chang, and
Tracy Baxter - filed a lawsuit on August 11, 2003 in State Superior
Court against the SF Elections Commission, Department of Elections,
and the Director of Elections for failure to implement the law of
San Francisco which mandates instant runoff voting. Affer a flurry of briefs, the
judge presided over a lively oral argument on August 20 and praised
both the attorneys for the City and the attorneys for our Center for
their conduct and preparation. Although conceding much of the
arguments of the plaintiffs, he ruled that the Director of
Elections, if operating in good faith, has the authority to postpone
implementation of the new IRV law in order to maintain election
integrity. Here is additional background.
Statement from Steven
Hill at
August 11, 2003 news conference
Articles from theSan Francisco
Chronicle and San Franscisco Bay Guardian about the ruling.
Link to Key
Documents in Lawsuit
Hard-hitting Timeline of
Questionable Decisions by Department of Elections
News coverage in San Francisco
Chronicle, San
Francisco Bay Guardian and San Francisco
Examiner
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