Late last March, barely 7 percent of registered voters showed up for the special election to replace former State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (who recently won his race for Los Angeles County Supervisor). At a time when California faces dire, billion-dollar deficits, that special election cost $2.2 million dollars—nearly $100 per voter. To add insult to (fiscal) injury, the election wasn't even de­cided! Since no candidate received a majority (50 percent plus 1), voters in South Los Angeles will be asked to vote again on May 19.

After observing that election, both California As­sembly Member Ted Lieu and LA County Supervisor Ridley-Thomas had had enough. In a piece published in California Progress Report, Lieu and I called for the Golden State to adopt IRV for special elections. Mean­while, Ridley-Thomas immediately asked his colleagues at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to study In­stant Runoff Voting (IRV)—and they unanimously agreed. As a result, the Board of Supervisors will hold a hearing on IRV on May 12. The IRV Working Group will submit its report to the Council in July.

If IRV is adopted, Los Angeles taxpayers will save $8 to $9 million every two years. What's more, if IRV is used to fill state and federal vacancies, it will save nearly $10 million in 2009 alone.

To date, a broad, bipartisan group of leaders have come forward to endorse IRV, including: President Barack Obama; Sen. John McCain; CA Controller John Chiang; CA Secretary of State Debra Bowen; CA Board of Equalization Chair Judy Chu; former LA Mayor Richard Riordan; former US Rep. Tom Campbell, and many others. In addition, a number of influential groups support IRV, including: LA League of Women Voters, CA Common Cause, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Asian American Ac­tion Fund, Mexican American Bar Association, and South­west Voter Registration and Education Project.

Meanwhile, IRV has gotten to a fast start in Long Beach. This spring, two City Council members announced their support for IRV: Suja Lowenthal and Gary DeLong. What's more, Mayor Bob Foster has taken a strong interest in IRV. If Long Beach adopts IRV, it would save up to $1.4 million per election. It has been a pleasure working with City Clerk Larry Herrera, Elections Bureau Manager Poonam Davis, and all city leaders. The next opportunity to put IRV on the Long Beach ballot is April 2010. We will keep you posted as our IRV outreach effort continues its exciting progress.

Last but definitely not least, Pasadena has ex­pressed strong interest in studying the potential benefits of IRV. If adopted by the City of Pasadena and the Pasadena Unified School District, IRV will save taxpayers approx­imately $250,000 every local election.

We need your help to put IRV over the top. Please call, write, or email the following leaders and ask them to support IRV:

• Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors: bos.co.la.ca.us
• Los Angeles City Council: lacity.org/lacity/YourGovernment/CityCouncil/index.htm
• Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: www.lacity.org/mayor
• Long Beach City Council: www.longbeach.gov/officials/default.asp
• Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster: www.longbeach.gov/mayor/default.asp
• Pasadena City Council: www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/citycouncil.asp
• Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard: www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/mayor

No matter where you live, you can make a differ­ence—and make IRV a reality not just for California, but for the nation as a whole. In 2009, instant runoff voting has gone gangbusters in California, from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Long Beach to Pasadena. With your help, California will pave the way for the nation to follow.