An upcoming town hall meeting on "ranked-choice" voting has caused a mild flap in some circles with at least one prominent city resident saying the "extreme left" is trying to take over Eureka with the system used by San Francisco and under consideration in Davis.

The April 28 meeting hosted by Councilmen Mike Jones and Chris Kerrigan is scheduled to take place at the Wharfinger Building from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Kerrigan said the forum grew out of concerns by a citizen's group, which has unsuccessfully asked the cities of Eureka and Arcata to pass a resolution stating there is no basis for confidence in the federal election process.

"These type of forums allow dialogue on important issues and I think that dialogue -- whether we agree as council members or as a community -- is important to hear," he said.

Ranked-choice voting -- sometimes known as "preference voting" or "instant result voting" -- works differently depending on whether one seat or multiple seats are up for election. There are varying systems and calculation methods.

In the case of a single seat, the process generally works by having voters select their first, second and third place choices and so on. If no candidate receives a majority vote, the candidate with the least first choice votes is dropped. Anyone who selected the dropped candidate as their first choice would have their vote transferred to their second choice.

The votes are then recounted and either a majority winner is found or the process continues until one candidate breaks the 50 percent plus one mark.

In a multiple candidate election, a formula based on the number of voters and seats would determine what percentage of the vote a candidate would need to win.

Kerrigan said the discussion does not have to be limited to ranked-choice voting. Other election concerns and potential changes can also be explored, including campaign finance reform and a look at the ward system.

"If the trend is that you have to raise $100,000 to be on a local City Council, that potentially is going to eliminate good candidates from running and I don't think that is something we want to happen in Eureka," he said.

Jones described the town hall as an opportunity to talk about the pros and cons of ranked-choice voting. The issue is not before the City Council.

"It's not a city of Eureka forum, it's two councilmen hosting a public forum on the topic," he said.

E-mails that businessman and philanthropist Rob Arkley sent to various public officials show not everyone is intrigued with the idea. Arkley has called for people to "voice your objection to the extreme idea," which he also describes as "the most absurd proposal ever."

Jones said Thursday he has heard from people on both sides of the issue.

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion," he said.

On Friday, Kerrigan said the only negative feedback he's heard were Arkley's e-mails.

Voters in San Francisco approved ranked-choice voting in 2002 and used the system for the first time in November 2004. There were a few glitches. The system is not applied to San Francisco school boards, community college boards, federal or state offices or ballot measures.

Meanwhile, a task force formed by the city of Davis has recommended adoption of choice voting for council elections.

"We believe that choice voting is the most important one of our recommendations," the task force report states. "A majority of the task force voted to recommend choice voting because it was seen to have a number of attractive features and the potential to address some representation problems without the ill effects of some other reform options."

The City Council there is expected to take up the issue in June, according to Davis city staff.

In Sacramento, state Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, is working on legislation that would give general law cities the option of using ranked-choice voting in municipal elections. A hearing is scheduled for April 27.

Scott Menzies, a member of the Humboldt County citizen's group that approached the city, said the ranked-choice voting benefits candidates and voters by creating a more democratic election because no one has to worry about "throwing away" their vote or "spoiling" an election.

"It's a system that allows for fair competition in the free market of ideas," he said.

Ranked-choice voting sounds like a convoluted and confusing way to elect officials. I personally would not support it for local elections without further study to analyze if the benefits would really outweigh the negatives.

Humboldt County Republican Chairwoman Lori Metheny said she has questions and some concerns with the idea, for example, if the system was used to adjust the ballot count to determine a winner in the primary just to avoid a run-off in the general election.

"Then I believe it could erode the established electoral process we now have in place," she said. "One main benefit to our current system is when there are a list of candidates to choose from in the primary, sending the top two to the general election allows more time for the voters to get to know the candidates and their political platforms, agendas and objectives."