BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1121 (Davis)
Hearing Date: 8/17/2009 Amended: 7/14/2009
& as proposed to be amended
Consultant: Maureen Ortiz Policy Vote: ER&CA 3-2
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 1121 authorizes the Secretary of State to
approve up to twelve counties to use a ranked voting system.
Counties that opt to participate will be required to obtain
approval of the voters, and acquire a voting system that is
capable of conducting an election using ranked voting. This
pilot will sunset January 1, 2019.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Approval of ranked voting -------------minor, less than
$50------------- General
Ranked voting elections ----unknown, nonreimbursable,
at
local option---------
Local
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STAFF COMMENTS:
The Secretary of State indicates that it would incur minor costs
to review and approve requests by cities and counties to
participate in the pilot project. There will be additional
costs to certify a ranked voting election machine, however,
vendors already fund the certification costs by fees which are
placed into an escrow account for these purposes.
AB 1121 will not result in a mandate on counties, since
participation in this pilot is completely optional. To the
extent that using a ranked voting method eliminates the need for
a future run-off election, counties could save significant
future election expenses.
Author's proposed amendments provides that a city or county that
is been approved to use a ranked voting system shall be
permitted to use that system until January 1, 2024, unless a
later statute is enacted to extend that date. The amendments
also define the term "sets of candidates" to mean "a continuing
candidate and all other continuing candidates with the same or
fewer votes than that candidate", and make other technical
changes.
Local election officials that opt to participate will be
required to make a summary report and a comprehensive report
available to public after each ranked voting election. Cities
and counties will also be required to report on the success of
using a ranked voting system during an election to the
Legislative Analysts Office (LAO). This report will include the
costs to conduct the ranked voting election, voter turnout, and
the number of ballots that were not counted and the reason those
ballots were rejected. The LAO, in turn, will compile the data
and report to the Legislature, making recommendations on whether
the pilot should be expanded, and any improvements that should
be made.
Page 2
AB 1121 (Davis)
Ranked voting is a system whereby voters rank the candidates for
office in order of preference, and the ballots are counted in
rounds that, in the case of a single-winner election, simulate a
series of runoffs until only two candidates remain, with the one
having the greater number of votes being declared the winner, or
in the case of multiple-winner elections, until all seats have
been filled. AB 1121 outlines the specific method for counting
ballots after a ranked voting election. Ranked voting may be
used for a single-winner election such as Mayor or City
Attorney, or for elections that elect
multiple candidates such as members of a city council. To be an
eligible candidate for the use of ranked voting, a city or
county must first get approval by the voters. The Secretary of
State will then approve each request in the order of its receipt
until the maximum number of cities and counties for each section
of the state is reached. In addition, the city or county must
have a voting system that is capable of conducting an election
using ranked voting that has been approved by the Secretary of
State. To date, there are no systems capable of tabulating
ballots cast during a ranked voting election that have been
approved by the Secretary of State, however, San Francisco had
received conditional approval for several "one-time" elections.
Under current law, only charter cities and counties can use
ranked voting. There are 112 cities that are charter cities,
and 14 of California's 58 counties are charter counties.
AB 1121 authorizes 12 cities or counties to participate with not
more than four cities or counties located in each of the
northern, central, and southern regions of California. However,
if more than one city or county approves the use of ranked
voting in a single election and the authorization of those
cities or counties would exceed the maximum number allowed, then
all of those cities and counties will be authorized.
AB 1121 requires cities and counties that opt to use ranked
voting in a local election to conduct a voter education and
outreach campaign through the use of public service
announcements to familiarize voters with ranked voting in
English and in every language in which a ballot is provided to
voters in that county.
A similar bill, AB 1274 (Mullin) of 2007 was vetoed by the
Governor via the following message: I am returning Assembly
Bill 1294 without my signature.
This bill would allow cities and counties, subject to voter
approval, to conduct a local election using a ranked voting
system. This represents a drastic change to the way we vote.
Although there are some proponents for ranked voting, which
allows for so-called "instant runoff" elections, I am concerned
that we don't yet know enough about how voters will react to
such a dramatic change in the way they vote. For instance,
charter cities and counties already have the right to hold
ranked voting elections, yet only one
city has done so thus far, and that was on a trial basis only.
Further, the machines necessary to implement ranked voting are
not widely available nor have any been certified by the
Secretary of State. As the Secretary of State recently
decertified the vast majority of electronic voting machines used
for traditional elections, it is premature to even contemplate
moving to ranked voting tomorrow until we have resolved any
issues with the machines needed for how we vote today.