Brown vetoes bill to broaden ranked-choice voting in California

[TexasTowelie]

Legislation that would have allowed all cities in California to use ranked-choice voting, the system in San Francisco and three other Bay Area communities that lets voters rank candidates by preference and decide an election in a single round of ballots, has been vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Ranked-choice, also known as instant-runoff voting, gives voters the option of choosing multiple candidates in order of preference. After the ballots are first counted, the candidate with the fewest top-rank votes is eliminated and the next choices of that candidate’s supporters are apportioned among the remaining candidates. The process continues until one candidate gets a majority.

While the system can sidetrack a leading candidate who lacks second-choice votes, it also encourages voters to support the candidate they prefer, rather than a less-favored rival who has a better chance of winning. The system is less expensive for cities than the traditional primary and runoff elections.

California law allows the state’s 121 charter cities to adopt the ranked-choice system if their voters approve it. Only four have done so — San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro — while the others hold two-round elections for local offices.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Brown-vetoes-bill-to-broaden-ranked-choice-voting-9518031.php

[demosincebirth]

1. Good!

[kimbutgar]

2. Oakland got a terrible mayor because if ranked choice

Brown was mayor for two terms, turned Oakland around and then mayor Quan won because of ranked choice. She was terrible and got voted out the next election. I know Brown had this in mind when he vetoed the bill.