Instant Runoff Voting: Press

Instant Runoff: The Vote Of The Future? | Long Beach Press-Telegram

Erin Drankoski — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:59:00 -0400

A nonprofit public policy think tank that is advocating the idea -- the Washington, D.C.-based New America Foundation -- said that instant runoff voting changes the nature of political campaigns. ... Original Article

Instant Runoff Voting Could Streamline the Long Beach Balloting Process | Long Beach Press-Telegram

Cecille Isidro — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:56:00 -0400

Gautam Dutta of the New America Foundation, an election reform group that has been pushing for the council to consider IRV, refutes these criticisms. ...

Will Downtown Go after IRV? | San Francisco Bay Guardian

Cecille Isidro — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:39:00 -0400

Steve Hill, who works at the New America Foundation and was one of the architects of IRV in San Francisco, pointed out that direct runoffs have been tried in San Francisco. "That what we used to have," he told me. "And we saw regular attack ads and ...

New Report Shows Instant Runoff Voting Saves Money and Boosts Voter Turnout

Elizabeth Wu — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:04:00 -0400

Media Contact
Liz Wu
California Media Relations Manager
510-295-9859
wu@newamerica.net

California's Electoral System Needs Reform

Elizabeth Wu — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:29:00 -0400

Media Contact
Liz Wu
California Media Relations Manager
510-295-9859
wu@newamerica.net

SACRAMENTO, CA - In the wake of Tuesday's record low voter turnout and the resounding defeat of five of six ballot measures proposed by the Legislature, the New America Foundation renewed its call for a fundamental overhaul of California's dysfunctional electoral system.

New America Foundation Commends LA County Supervisor on Call for IRV

Elizabeth Wu — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:22:00 -0400

Los Angeles, CA -- Today, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas called for Los Angeles County to look into using instant runoff voting (IRV) for future special elections in order to increase voter turnout and lower election costs.

Instant Runoff Voting and the Community Colleges | Los Angeles Times

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:47:00 -0500

Only 4.7% of eligible voters showed up, according to the New America Foundation's Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) project. The cost of holding the election ...

Hand-Counting Ballots in Instant-Runoff Vote Called 'Huge Nightmare’ | Minneapolis Star Tribune

adminn — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:20:00 -0500

But one ranked-choice voting advocate, Steven Hill of the New America Foundation, responds that such concerns are nonsense. Two North Carolina communities ...

Gautam Dutta in the Long Beach Press-Telegram | 'Long Beach City Clerk Warns Council of Voter Fatigue'

Communications — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:11:00 -0400

...Gautam Dutta, deputy director of the Political Reform Program for the non-profit New America Foundation, who was invited by Herrera to speak at the committee meeting, told the council that voter turnout increased 168 percent in San Francisco after initiating instant runoff voting.

Dutta said the voting system helps avoid the Ralph Nader or Ross Perot effect, when voters may support a third-party candidate, but don't vote for the candidate because that person is unlikely to win. Similarly, voters who support a long-shot candidate wouldn't be at risk of taking votes away from another acceptable candidate, thus placing the person they least support in office, he said.

"You know, rest assured that if that person doesn't make it and gets knocked out, your vote will automatically go to your second choice. ... That I think would make voters feel a lot more at ease about the voting process," Dutta said... LINK

Top L.A. Labor Group Embraces Election Reform

Communications — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:29:00 -0400

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO has endorsed a critical reform for Los Angeles elections: Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). The County Federation, the second largest chartered Labor Council of AFL-CIO in the country, represents over 350 unions and over 800,000 workers.

California State Controller John Chiang Endorses LA Election Reform

Communications — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:16:00 -0400

Los Angeles, CA -- California State Controller John Chiang has endorsed a critical election reform for Los Angeles: Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). Chiang, California's top fiscal officer and highest ranking Asian American elected official, announced his support at a City Hall panel discussion held today at Los Angeles City Hall's Bradley Tower.

Controller Chiang noted that IRV will help boost voter turnout by reducing voter fatigue: "I think part of the fatigue with the American electoral system is with the runoffs -- with the endless electoral cycles where people do not get time to govern and people don't get time to participate."

Gary Toebben, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, also spoke on the panel at City Hall. Toebben added that IRV would help businesses combat a different type of fatigue: "I can assure you that the business community gets fatigue around elections, because people are always asking for money. And when you have two elections, they ask twice." Last month, the L.A. Chamber's Executive Board voted unanimously to endorse IRV.

Panelist Sylvia Scott-Hayes, President of the Los Angeles Community College District, added that IRV is "good for the young, good for the senior generation" because it will make it easier for them to vote.

Currently, if no candidate receives a majority (50 percent plus one) in the first round, a runoff election is required for the elected offices of the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District, and Los Angeles Community College District.

Last year, barely 6 percent of registered voters cast a ballot for the May runoff election (Los Angeles Community College District). That election alone cost taxpayers $5.5 million -- over $40 per voter.

Another panelist, former Los Angeles Councilmember Richard Alatorre, noted that low voter participation weakens our democracy: "It's a sad commentary, in a city like LA, when someone gets elected with only 12 percent of voters taking part."

By allowing voters to rank their choices (1-2-3), IRV will eliminate the need for costly runoff elections. In this manner, IRV will help solve two chronic problems that plague Los Angeles voters and taxpayers: voter fatigue and wasteful, expensive runoff elections.

To place IRV on the November ballot, the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Villaraigosa must take action by July 2.

At the panel, Los Angeles Community College Board Trustee Mona Field, a professor of political science, noted that IRV would help reduce negative campaigning, as each candidate would try to become the second choice of their competitors' supporters: "You simply can't trash other people if you want their voters to consider you as second best."

In addition, IRV has won the support of a broad base of elected and civic leaders, including: United Farm Workers Union Co-Founder Dolores Huerta; Liza White, President, League of Women Voters of Los Angeles; Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti; Los Angeles City Councilmembers Wendy Greuel, Jose Huizar, Bill Rosendahl and Ed Reyes; Los Angeles Controller Laura Chick; former Los Angeles Councilmembers Richard Alatorre and Jackie Goldberg; California Board of Equalization Chair Judy Chu; California State Senators Mark Ridley-Thomas and Jack Scott; Los Angeles Community College District President Sylvia Scott-Hayes; Los Angeles Community College Trustees Georgia Mercer, Mona Field and Nancy Pearlman; Mark Drummond, Chancellor, Los Angeles Community College District;

John Emerson,* President, Capital Guardian Trust Company, Personal Investment Management; William C. Velasquez Institute President Antonio Gonzalez; Brendan Huffman, President & CEO of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association (VICA); Anthony Thigpenn, President, SCOPE; Holly Fujie,* Governor, State Bar of California; Kathay Feng, Executive Director, California Common Cause. (An asterisk indicates that an individual's affiliation is for identification purposes only.)

Organizations that support IRV include: League of Women Voters of Los Angeles, Southwest Voters Registration Education Project, National Latino Congreso, Asian American Action Fund, African American Voter Registration Education Project, UNITE HERE (Local 11), AFT College Faculty Guild (1521), Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, San Fernando Valley Alliance for Democracy. A full endorser list is available at IRVinLA.org/endorsements.

Monday's City Hall panel was covered by both the Los Angeles Times (http://www.irvinla.org/latest_news/la-times-blog-supports-irv) and Southern California Public Radio (http://www.irvinla.org/latest_news/socal-public-radio-spotlights-irv).

For further information, contact: Mr. Gautam Dutta, Esq. (213.480.0994; dutta@newamerica.net).

About the New America Foundation

The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, post-partisan public policy institute whose purpose is to bring exceptionally promising new voices and new ideas to the forefront of our nation's public discourse. Relying on a venture capital approach, the Foundation invests in outstanding individuals and policy solutions that transcend the conventional political spectrum. Headquartered in our nation's capital, New America also has offices in California and New York.

New America Foundation in Ventura County Star | 'Decline-to-State Voters Need to Know They Have Options'

Communications — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:08:00 -0400

...Some partisans scoff at the independent voters, saying that they "have no opinion or convictions." But, independent voters very often have a mix of beliefs and principles that don't completely fit into one party's mold. A study done at the New America Foundation shows that the independent voter is generally younger, male, college-educated, a fiscal conservative (willing to accept fewer government services in exchange for paying less in taxes), pro-choice, an environmentalist, pro-securing the border, and growing in numbers of minorities. Sounds like a pretty concerned, informed bloc of voters...LINK

Gautam Dutta on KPPC Radio | 'Instant Runoff' Proposal Would Do Away With Some Runoff Elections in LA

Communications — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:59:00 -0400

(KPPC)--The idea of "instant runoff" voting appears to be gaining steam in Los Angeles. The L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce, labor unions and the League of Women Voters want change: a proposal would eliminate runoff elections in non-partisan races in several categories. KPCC's Frank Stoltze reports. Frank Stoltze: In their case for instant runoff voting, advocates point to last year's runoff election between two candidates for the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees. Gautam Dutta: Only six percent showed up to vote. In fact, in some precincts, nobody showed up to vote. That election cost five million dollars, and that's a cost of $40 per voter... LINK to Interview

Gautam Dutta on KPCC | ''Instant Runoff' Proposal Would Do Away With Some Runoff Elections in LA'

Communications — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:33:00 -0400

The idea of "instant runoff" voting appears to be gaining steam in Los Angeles. The L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce, labor unions and the League of Women Voters want change: a proposal would eliminate runoff elections in non-partisan races in several categories. KPCC's Frank Stoltze reports...

Gautam Dutta: Only six percent showed up to vote. In fact, in some precincts, nobody showed up to vote. That election cost five million dollars, and that's a cost of $40 per voter... LINK for audio and transcript

L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce Endorses Key Election Reform

Communications — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:55:00 -0400

Contact: Mr. Gautam Dutta, Esq. (213.480.0994; dutta@newamerica.net)

Los Angeles CA -- The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce has endorsed a critical election reform: Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles, and key labor unions like UNITE HERE have also endorsed IRV.

Los Angeles Times Quotes Lynne Serpe on Instant Runoff Voting

Communications — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:51:00 -0400

This Wednesday's [Los Angeles City Council's Rules and Elections Committee] meeting may be different because the committee is going to discuss instant runoff voting. If you're tired of the endless electioneering in the city, this is a good thing...As attentive readers may recall, this column believes that perpetually low turnout in city elections is due, in part, to the city's insistence on holding elections in March of odd-numbered years. Any wonder that turnout in this year's election was just 11% and even lower during the May runoffs?That means city elections follow directly on the heels of far sexier general elections in November of even-numbered years. The result: Election season feels like hockey season. It never ends... The New America Foundation, which is pushing the proposal in cities across the country, says Los Angeles could save money with instant runoffs, having spent $30.9 million to administer separate runoff elections since 1993. That's not to mention all the fundraising and campaign promises — not all well thought out — that accompany runoffs.More important, the foundation says that candidates vying to be someone's second or third choice would stick to the… more

New Study Highlights Problems with Runoff Elections in Los Angeles

Communications — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:47:00 -0400

LOS ANGELES, CA – As Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposes decreasing the city of Los Angeles’ budget deficit, a new study suggests another way to save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars: eliminate the May runoff election and instead use instant runoff voting to elect majority winners in a single election.

Los Angeles taxpayers are about to spend an estimated five million dollars for a May 15 runoff election in which fewer than 10 percent of voters are likely to participate. Lynne Serpe, deputy director of the New America Foundation's political reform program based in Los Angeles, says: “If Mayor Villaraigosa wishes to decrease the budget deficit, he can start by eliminating an unnecessary May runoff election. The runoff election will cost taxpayers and candidates millions of dollars, even though voter turnout is predicted to be in the single digits.”

New America’s new study analyzes the impact of runoff elections in Los Angeles in terms of the cost to taxpayers, voter turnout, campaign finance expenditures, and environmental impacts. The full report may be found on the web at www.newamerica.net/irv_la. The report finds the following:

* Cost to taxpayers. The City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District and the Community College District have spent over $30.9 million administering runoff elections since 1993. From 2001 to 2005 the City of Los Angeles spent $9.2 million to administer runoff elections, $4.7 million in 2005 alone as costs have escalated in recent years.

* Voter turnout. Despite the high costs, hardly anyone is bothering to vote. The recent March 6, 2007 election had a voter turnout of barely 10% overall, with single digit turnout for LA Unified School District and LA Community College District races. Since 1997, voter turnout has declined in more than half the runoff elections for the city of Los Angeles.

* Campaign finance. Runoff elections are having a negative impact on campaign finance reform, leading to huge increases in independent expenditures. Since 1993, $7.5 million have been spent by independent expenditure committees in runoff elections, over $3 million in the 2005 mayoral race alone as political fundraising has escalated in recent years. Since 1993, $27.8 million have been donated to local candidates for their runoff campaigns, over six million dollars in 2005 alone. And the City’s partial public financing program has dispensed $8.9 million to candidates engaged in runoffs, in addition to money given to a full field of candidates in the first (primary) election.

* Environmental costs. Runoff elections also waste huge amounts of paper. For the 2005 runoff, the voters information pamphlet was mailed to 1.5 million voters, a total of 20.7 million pieces of paper, and sample ballots were made available at 1,599 polling sites. A blizzard of multiple campaign mailers sent out by candidates and organizations wasted additional amounts of paper.

On May 15, when a runoff will be held for one district-wide seat for the LA Community College District and two district seats for LA Unified School District, voter turnout is expected to be in the single digits, yet taxpayers will still foot the bill for millions of dollars to pay for this runoff election.

As a solution, the New America Foundation is proposing an electoral method known as Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). Instant runoff voting allows voters to rank a first, second and third choice candidate, and the runoff rankings are used to elect a majority winner in a single election. This saves the cost and inconvenience of holding a second election. With IRV, Los Angeles could combine the primary and runoff into a single consolidated election.

Instant runoff voting (IRV) is currently used in San Francisco, and in November 2007 69% of voters in Oakland passed a measure to adopt IRV. Voters in Davis and Minneapolis also recently passed IRV ballot measures. Student governments at UCLA, California Institute of Technology, Stanford, UC-Berkeley and others are using such electoral methods.

A California statewide survey commissioned by the New America Foundation last year found that nearly 52% of the poll respondents liked the idea of ranking their choices for elected office. Support for the idea increased to 59% if voters thought it would discourage negative campaigns, and to 70% if it would save taxpayer money.

“The costs of running elections and political fundraising have escalated in recent years,” said Steven Hill, director of New America’s Political Reform Program. “Los Angeles could combine the primary and general election into one instant runoff election, and improve democracy as they save tax dollars. It’s a win-win solution.”

Voice of America Reports on New America's Ten Big Ideas Event

Communications — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 23:14:00 -0500

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, a Democrat from New York, and Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, were the keynote speakers at a conference this week unveiling a number of radical ideas meant to inspire change in U.S. policy on areas such as health care, climate change, and energy efficiency. Both senators, who say they are good friends despite political differences, said they believe the country needs courage and compromise to make the radical changes they say are needed to solve some long-standing problems. VOA's Marissa Melton reports from Washington.The theme of the Ten Big Ideas for a New America conference, hosted by the nonpartisan New America research group this week was, well, the Ten Big Ideas in the title, proposals by scholars on election systems, economics, health care, retirement, and higher education to improve long-standing problems in U.S. policy. But the big-name speakers, Clinton, Graham, and New America founder Ted Halstead, focused on a broader idea. Each said the results of November's congressional elections, in which Democrats gained control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, signals a new feeling in the nation that this is the time for a new approach… more

NY Times Profiles New America's Ten Big Ideas Event with Sen. Clinton

Communications — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:43:00 -0500

At a conference devoted to “big ideas” for the nation’s future, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said this morning that compromise need to be “a goal – not a dirty word” in politics and government, remarks that reflect her own pragmatic style but that are more moderate than the views of some of her rivals and hard-core elements of the Democratic primary electorate.With some of her 2008 presidential opponents offering sharply partisan messages, and another of them, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, seeking to transcend partisanship, Mrs. Clinton staked her place in the middle of the political rhetoric as she tries to appeal to broad swaths of the American electorate – even at the risk of alienating some Democratic primary voters.“I don’t think Americans are looking for some kind of group-hug bipartisanship – I think they’re looking for leaders who can get back to reality-based policy-making,” she said at the New America Foundation’s “Ten Big Ideas for a New America” conference in Washington, a few blocks from the Capitol.“The answer is not that we’re going to get rid of partisanship — as long as there are human beings jousting for influence and position,… more

New America Foundation in the Sacramento Bee on Growing Political Middle

Communications — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 22:36:00 -0500

Last month's election provided new evidence that while politicians from the two major parties fight their shrill ideological battles -- egged on by radio and cable television talkers -- they represent ever-shrinking constituencies and thus are becoming increasingly disconnected from the larger society.

The political middle, disenchanted with the confrontational and ultimately meaningless tone of contemporary politics, has been growing. The number of voters who register as Republicans or Democrats in California has remained unchanged for a decade and a half while the ranks of independent voters have swelled to nearly a fifth of the total...

That's why, for instance, California's two major parties, which agree on practically nothing in the policy realm, joined arms to successfully challenge voter-approved open primary elections. Open primaries would allow cross-party voters and independents to make decisions on party nominees, thereby threatening the stranglehold of liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans on their parties' dynamics.

And that's why leaders of the two major parties in the Legislature conspired after the 2000 census to redraw 173 legislative and congressional districts to designate each district's party ownership, minimize interparty competition and make the closed party primary the vehicle for electing officeholders...

Opening up California's political process by breaking up the partisan… more