What is Measure F?
Measure F is an amendment to the Santa Clara County Charter that would permit the County to use Instant Runoff Voting for county elections, instead of the current two-round system, when the technology becomes available.  Measure F was placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors upon the recommendation of the citizen Charter Review Committee.

What is Instant Runoff Voting?
Instant Runoff Voting, or IRV, is an election method that produces a majority result in a single election.  Under the current, two-round system, if no candidate gets a majority in the first election, the top two vote-getters face each other in an expensive runoff election. Everyone has to decide who their second choice is (except supporters of the two finishers, who get to vote for their first choice again), and vote for that person in the runoff.  In IRV, each voter indicates their second choice at the same time as they indicate their first choice, allowing any runoff to happen "instantly".

How does it work?
IRV is as easy as 1-2-3.  Instead of indicating a single choice on the ballot, the voter puts a "1" next to their first choice, a "2" next to their second choice, and so on, for as up to as many candidates appear on the ballot.  It's that simple.

How are the ballots counted?
The ballots are counted by first sorting them by first choices.  If someone has a majority of first choices, that person is elected.  If no one has a majority of first choices, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and each ballot they received is transferred to the second choice indicated by that voter.  If someone now has a majority of votes (their original first choice votes plus transferred second choice votes), that person is elected.  Otherwise, this process (of eliminating the person with the fewest votes and transferring each of their ballots to its next indicated choice) is repeated until someone gets a majority of the votes.

Does anyone use Instant Runoff Voting?
Yes.  IRV has been used in Australia since 1919, and in Ireland since 1920.

Who supports Measure F?
A wide variety of organizations and individuals support Measure F.
Click here to see a partial list.

What if I still have questions?
Call the Measure F hotline, 408-432-9148, and we'll get you an answer.
Even better, send email to steve.chessin@eng.sun.com.