Voice for Democracy

Newsletter of Californians for Electoral Reform

Winter 2006

Chapter Roundtable

Our customary survey of local news must be abbreviated to make room for pressing matters of statewide concern.  There is a lot going on around California; we just don’t have room for all of it.  We’ll catch up in the Spring issue.

In Davis, the city council has set up a subcommittee to work with the city attorney on language for a city charter that would enable Davis to adopt choice voting.  Councilmembers Don Saylor and Steven Souza were named as members.

On January 8, Alameda County CfER members took time out from their ongoing efforts to speed up implementation of IRV in Berkeley to administer a contentious board election for a large Sikh community in Fremont.  Activists in Oakland met on March 11 to kick off a campaign to adopt IRV for all city elections.

In San Luis Obispo County, the Los Osos Community Services District has adopted IRV for referenda on where to build wastewater treatment plants.  Proposals must win by a majority, and there are often more than two choices to present to the voters.  CfER is not aware of any other jurisdiction that uses IRV for ballot questions.

Amy Hill, who recently moved from Santa Monica to Ventura County, has established contact with city council members in Moorpark, where a federal Department of Justice investigation of a possible Voting Rights Act violation may spur interest in choice voting.  Moorpark is 28 percent Hispanic but has no Hispanic city council members.

L.A. VoteFIRE’s David Holtzman met with a charter review commission in Burbank, where the at-large city council is currently elected using an unusual form of runoff. In the first round, twice as many candidates are nominated as there are open seats. The commission’s interest in eliminating runoffs creates an opening to talk about choice voting.

In early February, the San Diego City Council created a ten-member citizen task force to explore both instant runoff voting and all-mail elections.

Compiled by Bob Richard