FairVote's Rob Richie testified about IRV to the Aspen city council on August 20th. That same week, he presented on IRV and proportional voting for two hours to the statewide Voter Choice Task Force. Chaired by state representative John Kefalas and including leading state and local election administrators and civic leaders, the task force's final report is due later this year.

[Aspen Times editorial on IRV]
[Rob Richie's PowerPoint for Voter Choice Task Force]
[InstantRunoff.com]

Three more municipalities have placed ballot measures on instant runoff voting for November. Voters in Sarasota (FL), Aspen (CO) and Clallam County (WA) will each be considering the merits of this ranked choice voting method. IRV has won its last nine trials-by-ballot by an average two-to-one victory margin.

Reform-oriented citizens spearheaded a petition drive in Sarasota. The Clallam County Charter Review Commission voted unanimously for an enabling measure, while Aspen's city council voted unanimously to enact instant runoff voting for all city elections.

[Editorial from the Aspen Times in favor of election reform]
[Aspen Daily News on IRV ballot measure]

On July 10, both AB 1294 and AB 1662 passed the California Senate Committee on Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments. Prior to the passage of AB 1294, only charter counties or cities could use ranked voting methods, leaving over three-fourths of cities and counties without such options. AB 1294 added to the California Election Code by outlining procedures for conducting ranked voting elections.

AB 1662 allows overseas military personnel to use ranked ballots when voting in local elections if a runoff election is to occur within 90 days of the original election. AB 1662, by providing a separate ballot to rank all candidates, protects against the disenfranchisement of military members overseas due to the limited time between primary and general elections.