MAY 0 2 2007

MOTION: RULES & ELECTIONS COMMITTEE

Introduced by Councilmember Jose Huizar, Seconded by Councilmember Eric Garcetti

The City of Los Angeles currently uses a two-round runoff system to electits Mayor, City Attorney, City Council, and Controller. One election isheld in early March, and if no candidate wins a majority of the vote, asecond election between the top two finishers is held in May. This approachposes several challenges for the City. Voter participation in runoffelections is usually low. In fact, since 1997, voter turnout has declined inmore than half of the City's runoff elections. In addition, runoff electionsare expensive to conduct. Since 1993, Los Angeles, LAUSD, and the LACommunity College District have spent $30.9 million administering runoffelections. From 2001 to 2005, the City of Los Angeles alone spent $9.2million. In 2005 the cost was $4.7 million. Instant runoff voting, whichallows voters to rank a first, second and third choice, would elect majoritywinners in a single election. This approach has the potential to save LosAngeles significant expense and the difficulty of conducting runoff elections. With Instant Runoff Voting, Los Angeles could combine theprimary and runoff into one effective election.

According to the NewAmerica Foundation, a nonpartisan, public policy institute that has studied the issue, Instant Runoff Voting is widely used around the world and isspreading in California. It has been used in San Francisco for localelections since 2004, and voters in Oakland, Davis and Berkeley, and Santa Clara County recently passed ballot measures to adopt Instant RunoffVoting.

I THEREFORE MOVE that the Chief Legislative Analyst and City Clerk be
requested to report to the City Council with an analysis of Instant Runoff
Voting and recommendations for possible adoption of this election reform in
the City of Los Angeles.

http://clkrep.lacity.org/councilfiles/07-1378_mot_5-2-07.pdf