OAKLAND — The City Council's Rules Committee relented Thursday and agreed to consider placing a measure on the November ballot amending the City Charter to allow instant runoff voting.
The powerful Rules Committee, chaired by council President Ignacio De La Fuente (Glenview-Fruitvale), will take up the issue again July 13.

The full council is scheduled to discuss instant runoff voting at its July 18 meeting.

In instant runoff voting, rather than voting for one candidate, a voter ranks three candidates in the order of his or her preference. If the first choice fails to win a majority of votes in the first round of tabulations, votes for a voter's second and then third choices are counted.

A week ago, De La Fuente, along with Councilmembers Larry Reid (Elmhurst-East Oakland) and Henry Chang Jr. (At-Large), declined to schedule a discussion. De La Fuente said he was concerned instant runoff voting, also known as rank-choice voting, would disenfranchise minority voters.

Reid says he also opposes instant runoff voting.

Councilmember Jane Brunner (North Oakland) said she favored placing the issue on the council's agenda.

The charter amendment was introduced by Councilmembers Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland) and Patricia Kernighan (Grand Lake-Chinatown). Kernighan faces a runoff against local businesswoman Aimee Allison in her bid for re-election.

The proposal would move local elections to the November election from the June primary, when voter turnout is historically much lower, and save the nearly $200,000 runoff elections cost.

Instant runoff voting has been used in Berkeley and San Francisco, and it is supported by a consortium of local groups, including the League of Women Voters.


Contact Heather MacDonald at [email protected].