Davis
Moves Toward Choice Voting
The university community of Davis is well on its way to
becoming the first U.S. city since the late 1940s to adopt choice voting for
municipal elections.
On
May 24 the City Council voted unanimously to take the first step toward placing
two measures on the June, 2006 ballot--one to adopt a city charter and a second
on choice voting for city council elections.
Since general law cities such as Davis cannot currently adopt choice
voting (see the report on SB 596 elsewhere in this issue), the charter proposal
is a necessary part of the process.
The
Davis story began on the campus of the University of California at Davis
(UCD) in 2002. A campaign
to implement choice voting in student senate elections and instant
runoff voting for the student body presidency, started by the Davis
College Green Party, won over many student leaders representing various
points on the political spectrum. It
led to the adoption of both proposals in February 2003, with the support
of two-thirds of the students voting in the election.
Election results from four student senate elections since
2003 have shown that choice voting delivers on its promises of fuller
representation of diverse points of view, greater voter turnout, and less
negative campaigning. (For
evidence, visit http://www.davischoicevoting.org/index.php?page=asucd,
and scroll down to the bar graphs.)
Meanwhile
several of the students who introduced these reforms became the nucleus
of Davis Citizens for Representation (DCR) and started looking beyond
the campus.
In
the Spring of 2004, the City Council created a Governance Task Force to
examine a variety of issues, including selection/election of the mayor,
district versus at-large election of the council, the number and role of
commissions in city government, campaign finance, and charter status. Many of these issues had been left unresolved when a previous
city task force report was not acted upon.
Encouraged by DCR activists, the Council added choice voting to
the list of topics the new committee would explore.
The Task Force met 15 times between September 2004 and March
2005. When they began, at most one of the nine members and one
alternate supported choice voting. Some
favored district elections. On
March 8, however, eight members voted to make Choice Voting the key
recommendation in the panel’s report. One
abstained, saying he believes that choice voting is a good idea but might be
unnecessary in Davis.
What had happened in the intervening months is a textbook
example of effective activism. DCR’s
Chris Jerdonek attended every meeting of the Task Force, provided extensive
written materials, promoted attendance and participation at important meetings
by members of the university and the community, and--very importantly--worked
with officials such as Yolo County Clerk-Recorder Freddie Oakley and City Clerk
Bette Racki to ensure that they understood the proposal.
Since Davis is a general law city, the task force also
recommended that a city charter be adopted if necessary to implement its
recommendations. Another
recommendation relevant to choice voting was to expand the city council from
five to seven members; this was not accepted by the City Council.
In combination with choice voting, the larger district magnitude (number
elected per district) would have increased the representativeness of the
council.
The City Council held a public workshop on the Task Force
report on April 5 in front of about 60 choice voting supporters.
After enthusiastic comments from both the public and several members of
the Council, the entire report was referred to city staff for their input.
On May 24, the City Council reviewed a detailed report from
City Clerk Racki, which recommended obtaining a legal opinion on both choice
voting and adoption of a charter. Members
of the public speaking in favor of choice voting included two former mayors,
the chairperson of the Governance Task Force, and a former leader of the local
League of Women Voters, as well as student leaders.
The enthusiastic endorsements included this statement from
Councilmember Steven Souza: “This is the process of electing citizens to
represent us that is the closest [to] proportional representation that we have
been able to devise in the history of humankind.”
The only opposing argument was offered by Councilmember Sue Greenwald,
who favors district elections. Even
she acknowledged that choice voting would be better than the current plurality
at-large system.
The Council’s May 24 resolution instructed City Attorney
Harriett Steiner to prepare a legal analysis of the choice voting and charter
recommendations presented by the Task Force, along with a timeline for preparing
ballot measures. She replied to the
Council on June 21, outlining a number of general considerations involved in
adopting a city charter and asking for clarification of the Council’s
instructions. The Council plans to
reply during August or September, which still leaves plenty of time for putting
measures on the June ballot.
This summer DCR is canvassing door-to-door, tabling at
events, conducting a mock election to select the city’s favorite ice cream
flavors, and building its infrastructure. Clark
University student Zo Tobi, a summer intern partially funded by FairVote, CfER
and individual donors, is leading this effort.
The goal is to submit 3,000 signatures supporting choice voting to the
City Council (as of July 31, they are half-way there), and to educate the entire
community.
For more details, links to documents, and audio clips, visit
the DCR website at www.davischoicevoting.org.
Bob Richard
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