Voters would pick top 3 choices for office to scrap need for 2nd election

Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano wants to abolish the traditional run-off system for local races in San Francisco and replace it with a quicker, less costly method.

He wants to follow the lead of London, Ireland and a handful of other places by implementing "instant run-off voting," a vote-tabulation system that allows a winner to be picked right away if no candidate receives the majority of votes on the first go-around.

Under the current system in San Francisco, a run-off between the top two vote-getters is held about a month after the general election when none of the candidates gets more than 50 percent of the vote.

For example, in next month's mayor's race, it's possible that none of the candidates will receive a majority of votes, and the top two will have to duke it out in a second election in December, just as former Assembly speaker Willie Brown and then-Mayor Frank Jordan had to in 1995.

Under Ammiano's proposal, the winner would be picked immediately after the election.

"Run-off elections are taxing on voters in more ways than one," Ammiano said. "First, they have to vote twice in just over a month, and second, run-off elections can cost up to $1.million to administer."

Additionally, he said, instant run-off voting can save the candidates money, because they'd only have one election to worry about. It also may reduce the onslaught of mud-slinging that has become the norm during one-on-one run-off races, Ammiano said.

Under the proposed system, voters would list their top three candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority on the first round of votes, the last-place candidate would be eliminated. The ballots on which the eliminated candidate was listed as the No..1 choice would be recounted, but this time, the No..2 choice on those ballots would be counted as if he or she were the No..1 choice.

Again, the last-place finisher would be eliminated, and so on until one person finally accumulates the majority of votes.

"Candidates will have to be on their best behavior," Ammiano said. "Unlike run-off elections, when it often makes sense for a candidate to bash their opponent, candidates will be competing for second-place votes from their opponents' supporters."

The system would pertain to all elected offices in San Francisco: mayor, supervisors, sheriff, district attorney, city attorney, treasurer, assessor-recorder and public defender.

Ammiano's proposal, which he introduced Tuesday, still must be considered by the Board of Supervisors. If adopted, it would go on the March ballot as a charter amendment. If approved, the system would be in place for the November 2000 election.

San Francisco voters in 1996 rejected a similar system proposed for electing supervisors. Voters in Santa Clara County approved a measure that allows the use of instant run-off voting for county elections. Alaska, New Mexico and Vermont are looking at adopting the system.