Voice for Democracy

Newsletter of Californians for Electoral Reform

Fall 2006

President’s Letter

I want to cover three topics in this President's letter: the Annual General Meeting last May, the proposal to elect the President by popular vote, and the campaigns this November.

We had a very successful Annual General Meeting May 20th. Our keynote speaker was Assembly Member Joe Canciamilla, one of the coauthors of ACA 28, the California Citizens Assembly Constitutional Amendment. As most of you know, ACA 28 would have established a Citizens Assembly, similar to the one in British Columbia, to consider changes in how the legislature is elected (including proportional representation). It would have been made up of one man and one woman chosen at random from each of California's 80 Assembly districts.  The Citizens Assembly would have been empowered to propose amendments to the Constitution that would go directly to the ballot, bypassing the legislature, the theory being that it is an inherent conflict of interest for the legislature to consider changes in how they are elected. 

Unfortunately, ACA 28 got stuck in its first committee, and no hearings were ever scheduled (see the Winter 2006 issue of Voice for Democracy).  Canciamilla told us what a struggle it is trying to get the legislature to reform itself.  They are very reluctant to surrender their power.

We also elected our new board at the meeting.  Just as often happens in public elections, all the incumbents were reelected.  So, in alphabetical order, our board is Steve Chessin, Rob Dickinson, June Genis, David Holtzman, Dave Kadlecek, Paula Lee, Pete Martineau, Bob Richard, and Gabrielle Weeks.  Since the annual meeting Matt Munson was reappointed under CfER’s by-law provision allowing appointment of board members from political parties not otherwise represented on the board.

The Wilma Rule Memorial Award for 2006 was given to UCLA student Brian Neesby for convincing the undergraduate student government there to switch to choice voting beginning in 2007.

Other legislation we endorsed includes AB 2948 (Tom Umberg, D-69), which would have had California join an interstate compact that would have the effect of electing the President by national popular vote.  Each member of the compact would agree to assign their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote (as opposed to the winner of their statewide popular vote), but only once enough states had joined the compact to account for a majority of the Electoral College.  The Electoral College would still exist; the compact would just force it to elect the winner of the national popular vote.  This would make every vote important, and not just the votes in a handful of so-called "battleground" states (see Rob Dickinson's article in this issue).

AB 2948 got a lot further than ACA 28.  It passed the Assembly on May 30 and the Senate on August 22.  Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed it on September 30.

Turning to the November elections, we have two exciting campaigns facing us.  The Oakland City Council voted to put on the ballot a measure to allow all city elections to use IRV.  (Their current charter allows IRV only for special elections to fill vacancies.)  And the Davis City Council put an advisory measure on the ballot to ask the citizens if they want to switch to choice voting.  CfER is working hard to get both measures passed, and we are asking you for help (see the lead article in this issue).

In addition to those campaigns, interest in IRV and PR is popping up in unexpected places.  Both Pasadena and Sunnyvale, which use plurality in "numbered seats" for their school board and city council elections, respectively, are considering switching to at-large elections, and residents in both communities are pushing them to use choice voting instead of plurality, with a fall-back of IRV for the numbered seats.

Steve Chessin, President

To join CfER, or renew your membership, please visit

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