Californians for Electoral Reform	PO Box 128, Sacramento, CA 95812 916-455-8021

Resources for electoral reform campaigns

• Oakland's Measure O: their successful 2006 ballot measure enabling IRV use (first used in 2010)

• Berkeley's Measure I: the successful 2004 ballot measure enabling IRV use (first used in 2010)

• San Francisco's Proposition A: the successful 2002 ballot measure campaign to enact IRV, first used in 2004

• Santa Clara County's Measure F: the successful 1998 ballot measure campaign to enable IRV use, but not require it - it has not been used yet.

• San Francisco's Measure H: the unsuccessful 1996 ballot measure campaign to use proportional representation (choice voting) to elect the Board of Supervisors

• More general measures containing language enabling IRV use have been passed in Oakland (for city council vacancies) and San Leandro (for city council and mayor). See the Oakland Preference Voting website to learn more and help.
• Los Angeles and other southern CA cities have pondered IRV for special elections.
• CfER campaigned against the statewide "top two" ballot measure, Prop 14, in 2010. Vote splitting in the primary election can advance unpopular candidates, especially if turnout is low, leading to a lesser-of-evils choice in the general election. Prop 14 was a step backward when IRV could be a step forward.

• Compatible voting equipment - Only one method of marking and counting ranked ballots is certified for use in California. It uses Dominion's Insight precinct scanners, and is a retrofit that does not use this company's best technology. Better, proven methods are readily available, except for the severe state and federal bureaucratic barriers to adoption of new voting technology that impose million-dollar costs and years of delay. For now, we are stuck with the Insights. Check here to see what kind of voting equipment your county uses. For special elections, counties can borrow equipment from other counties. All counties use equipment well behind the state of the art. It is always a worthwhile effort to campaign for an upgrade by contacting your county supervisors, your county election officials, and your local newspaper. Here is a sample letter that you can borrow from, and documents from Santa Clara County's equipment upgrade that your county can use as an example.

• Enabling language in the county or city charter. Check here to see whether your county and city are chartered. If your county or city does not have a charter, it is forbidden by state law from implementing electoral reforms; see our legislation page to help change that.
• Local support for modern election methods. We need to spread the word!
• Eternal vigilance - the campaign doesn't end with a victory at the ballot box. Fuller representation regimes are always vulnerable to power grabs, as well as mistrust caused by lack of experience. Awareness and appreciation must be maintained in a community. San Francisco's IRV use has withstood a court challenge. Appeals have been ongoing, though unlikely to succeed.

Before a public campaign is attempted, it's important to lay the foundations by spreading the word about election reform and making sure that key constituencies understand and support it. Even if a campaign for election reform in your community is far off, we encourage you to read through these materials to get an understanding of what it takes to run a campaign.

Introduction to campaigning (Microsoft Word format)

These sources can help you plan a campaign. (Microsoft Word format)

Should we run a high- or low- profile campaign? (Microsoft Word format)

About high-profile campaigns (Microsoft Word format)

About low-profile campaigns (Microsoft Word format)

Myths about campaigns (Microsoft Word format)

Sample charter amendment (Microsoft Word format)

How to gather petition signatures

Endorsement planning form (Microsoft Word format)

Campaign info in a ZIP file