This act adds and amends provisions of the Elections Code; therefore, new provisions proposed to be added are printed in italic type to indicate that they are new.

LOCAL ELECTORAL FREEDOM ACT

SEC. 1. Title
This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Local Electoral Freedom Act."

SEC. 2. Findings and Declarations: The People of the State of California hereby find and declare all of the following:

(a) Under the existing system of plurality elections, voting for one’s first-choice candidate can help one’s last-choice candidate win. This is called the "spoiler" or "split-vote" effect. It is even possible that voting for one’s last-choice candidate can help one’s first-choice candidate win. Voters must strategize, rather than vote their conscience. This makes plurality elections an inaccurate and distorted measure of the will of the people.

(b) Current plurality elections often allow candidates to win even though a majority of voters did not cast a vote for them.

(c) Traditional runoff elections are not an acceptable solution for widespread use because they are expensive and time-consuming and historically have unacceptably low voter turnout. Furthermore, two-round runoffs adequately remove spoiler effects only when the number of candidates is one more than the number of winners.

(d) Several voting methods exist that nearly eliminate these problems without incurring the expense and inconvenience of runoff elections. These include instant runoff voting for single-winner elections and preference voting for multiple-winner elections. These systems are more fair, accurate, and efficient than those provided by state law.

(e) Several chartered jurisdictions in California, including San Francisco, Oakland, San Leandro, and Santa Clara County, have already passed ballot measures authorizing the use of instant runoff voting. Voters in general law cities and counties also deserve the right to choose for themselves to adopt modern voting systems.

SEC. 3. Purpose and Intent: The People of the State of California hereby declare their purpose and intent in enacting this act to be as follows:

To grant the voters of all cities and counties (not just those with charters) the right to adopt voting methods that they deem more fair, accurate, efficient, and legitimate than the methods specified by state law. These may include instant runoff voting or single transferable vote methods.

SEC. 4. Section 15452 of the Elections Code is amended to read:

15452. The person who receives a plurality of the votes cast for any office is elected or nominated to that office in any election, except (in order of precedence):

(a) An election for which different provision is made by any city or county charter.
(b) An election for which different provision is made by the voters of any city, county, or school district.
(c) A municipal election for which different provision is made by the laws under which the city is organized.
(d) The election of local officials in primary elections as specified in Article 8 (commencing with Section 8140) of Part 1 of Division 8.