On a day that produced mixed results for ranked voting proposals around the country, voters in Davis rejected a proposed home rule charter by a 54% to 46% margin. If adopted, the charter would have allowed Davis to adopt choice voting, which voters approved in an advisory measure two years ago.

Read Bob Richard's post mortem on the Measure N campaign.

On November 3, the Los Angeles City Council postponed taking action on instant runoff voting (IRV). Instead, it launched a "task force" to further study IRV--which it has been studying since 2002. As a result, IRV will not appear on the March 2009 ballot.

An update from the New America Foundation's Gautam Dutta is here.

This November's ballot measures showed that Americans are ready to transform our politics. Landslide majorities voted for spoiler-free, majority elections through instant runoff voting (IRV)in Memphis, Tennessee and Telluride, Colorado (67%), which extends a nearly unbroken string of wins for IRV in ballot measures since 2002.

FairVote's Rob Richie summarizes the wins and losses here.

Like most small cities in California, Albany's mayor is currently a councilor appointed annually to the position by the city council. Measure Y proposed a change to direct election of the mayor every four years. Election would be by a majority, with the council to decide in advance of the election between a traditional runoff and IRV.

The story on why it lost from Albany resident Preston Jordan is here.

British Columbia voters get a second chance to adopt choice voting; California's overseas voters might still be able to use ranked ballots in runoff elections with tight deadlines; a Minnesota judge rejects a challenge to IRV; Oregon considers a local option bill.

Read these news briefs here.

Californians for Electoral Reform (CfER) is a statewide citizens' group promoting election reforms that ensure that our government fairly represents the voters. We are a nonpartisan, non­profit organization with members from across the political spectrum. Since our founding in May of 1993, our numbers have grown from about two dozen to hundreds of members participating in local chapters across California.

The method by which we vote has dramatic consequences, and nearly one third of the state's electorate consistently goes without a representative that speaks for them in Sacramento. The choice of electoral system can determine whether there will be "spoilers" or vote-splitting effects, majority sweeps of representation on city councils, or pervasive negative campaign­ing. The choice of electoral system determines whether minority perspectives or racial and ethnic minority groups receive fair representation or get shut out of the process entirely.

CfER works for legislation that would allow cities and counties to adopt voting methods that allow people to rank their preferences when they vote   CfER also works with activists in its local chapters to enact fair election methods in cities and counties across the state.

CfER was established by citizens like you who think that our government should be representative of the people.  A lot of progress is already being made, but the future depends on you.