BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1121
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 1121 (Davis) - As Amended: April 28, 2009
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:5-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill, until January 1, 2019, establishes a pilot program
allowing up to 10 general law cities and general law counties to
conduct a local election using ranked voting (RV). Specifically,
this bill:
1)Limits participation in the pilot to three cities or counties
with a population of 15,000 or less, three cities or counties
with a population of between 15,000 and 40,000, and four
cities or counties with a population of more than 40,000.
Participants in the three population categories are also to be
distributed between the northern, central, and southern
regions of the state.
2)Requires a city or county to submit a written request to
participate in the pilot to the Secretary of State (SOS),and
prohibits the use of RV unless the election is conducted on a
voting system authorized by the SOS.
3)Defines "ranked voting" as an election method in which voters
rank the candidates for office in order of preference, and the
ballots are counted in rounds. In the case of a single-winner
election, "instant run-off voting" (IRV) simulates a series of
runoffs until only two candidates remain, with the candidate
having the greater number of votes being declared the winner.
In the case of a multiple-winner election, "choice voting"
(CV) fills all seats to be elected.
4)Provides that RV may be adopted for use in local city or
county elections by approval of a ballot measure submitted to
the voters by the governing body or by an initiative measure,
subject to specified requirements, including that any city or
AB 1121
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county using RV must conduct a voter education and outreach
campaign-in English and in every other language for which a
ballot is required-to familiarize voters with RV.
5)Provides a methodology for counting ballots and determining
the winning candidate(s) for IRV and CV elections,
respectively.
6)Requires participating cities and counties, following an RV
election, to report specified information to the Legislative
Analyst's Office (LAO), and requires the LAO to report to the
Legislature regarding the elections' success and to recommend
whether the Legislature should expand the authorization for
RV.
FISCAL EFFECT
Costs to the LAO for the report are minor and absorbable, and
any net costs to cities and counties would be nonreimbursable,
as participation in the pilot is voluntary.
Costs for the SOS to certify a voting system are about $360,000.
Vendors seeking certification deposit funds for this purpose in
an escrow account from which the SOS draws down to cover
certification-related expenses.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Today only charter counties or charter cities can
use ranked voting. Only 108 of the state's 478 cities are
charter cities, and only 14 of the 58 counties are charter
counties. According to the author, over half of all
Californians live in a general law city, a general law county,
or both, and thus are denied the opportunity to participate in
ranked voting. In addition, the author notes that there are no
statewide standards for how ranked voting elections should be
conducted, which can create the possibility of inconsistent
implementations, as well as place additional burdens on local
officials.
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The author states, "Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) ensures that
the winner on a single-winner election has the support of the
majority of voters in a single election. By eliminating the
need for a costly runoff election it saves local governments a
lot of money-about $2 million per election in San Francisco
alone. IRV also eliminates vote-splitting and spoiler effects,
both of which undermine the public's confidence in the
political process."
2)No Voting Systems Certified for RV . There are no voting
systems currently certified for use in California that have
the capability to tabulate ballots cast in an IRV or CV
election. San Francisco has only been provided a series of
conditional approvals from the SOS for the IRV elections it
has held since authorizing IRV for local elections in 2002.
The most recent conditional approval provided to San Francisco
will expire subsequent to the May 19, 2009 statewide special
election. Although San Francisco is the only jurisdiction in
California that has used IRV for an election, cities of
Oakland, Berkeley, and San Leandro have all approved charter
amendments to conduct city elections using IRV. No
jurisdiction in California currently has plans to conduct an
election using CV.
3)Prior Legislation . AB 1294 (Mullin) of 2007, which would have
allowed any city, county, or district to conduct a local
election using RV, was vetoed due to the governor's concerns
over what he believed was the drastic change to voters
represented by RV, the lack of experience with this method
(except in San Francisco), and the lack of SOS certification
of voting machines with IRV or CV capability.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081