Frequently Asked Questions (Full List)
What is instant runoff voting?
How is IRV different from what Los Angeles currently uses for local elections?
Could using IRV boost voter turnout?
Will IRV require taxpayers to spend more money on voting equipment?
How does instant runoff voting work?
What does an IRV ballot look like?
Who will be elected in Los Angeles using instant runoff voting?
Is instant runoff voting too confusing for voters?
Is IRV a fair and easy system for voters protected under the Voting Rights Act?
Will IRV increase voter turnout?
Will IRV make more voters feel like their vote counts?
Will having one election rather than two impact campaign finance reform?
Can IRV have an impact on the awful mudslinging and negative campaigning?
If there are fewer personal attacks, does that lead to more coalition-building?
Will IRV prevent spoilers and vote-splitting?
Would holding one election instead of two be more environmentally friendly?
What is the process for enacting IRV in LA?
How can we bring IRV to Los Angeles?
With instant runoff voting, I have three rankings. Does that mean I have three votes?
What happens if I skip a ranking, or don't rank all three of my rankings? Will I lose my vote.
Where is instant runoff voting used?
Can LA’s voting equipment handle IRV?
What is instant runoff voting?
Instant runoff voting (IRV) is an electoral method that elects officeholders with a majority of the vote in a single election. IRV eliminates the need for a separate runoff election. Voters rank their favorite candidates in order of choice (1, 2, 3) on their ballot, and the runoff rankings are used to determine the majority winner instantly.
How is IRV different from what Los Angeles currently uses for local elections?
Currently Los Angeles uses a two-round runoff system to elect its local officeholders. One election is held in early March, and if no candidate wins a majority of the vote, a
second election between the top two finishers is held in May. This separate runoff election costs taxpayers millions of dollars, and often leads to extremely low voter turnout – only 6% in the May 2007 runoff. With IRV, candidates win by gaining a majority of voter support, but IRV produces final results in a single election, eliminating the need for the second election.
Could using IRV boost voter turnout?
Yes. With the current system, voter participation is usually very low: only 10 percent of registered voters participated in the March 2007 election, followed by 6 percent turnout in the May 15 runoff, a 40 percent decline. Turnout in the precincts was even lower, only 1 percent, with some precincts having no voters at all! With IRV, voters, candidates, and organizations can focus all their resources and efforts on a single election, thereby maximizing voter participation. Having one election instead of two prevents voter fatigue that contributes to low turnout.
Yes. IRV combines the primary and runoff elections into one election, getting rid of the high costs of administering the second election. Since 1993, the City of LA, LA Unified School District and LA Community College District have spent $31 million administering runoff elections. From 2001 to 2005, the City of Los Angeles alone spent $9.2 million, $4.7 million in 2005 -- $40 per voter -- as costs have escalated in recent years. With IRV, all these unnecessary costs for a second election will be saved.
Will IRV require taxpayers to spend more money on voting equipment?
No. According to the City Clerk,
Secretary of State Debra Bowen will not certify the City's voting
equipment past the May 2009 election. As a result, the City will have to spend about $30 million for new voting equipment -- regardless of whether or not it adopts IRV. The new equipment will be able to handle IRV elections at no additional cost.
IRV is a win-win for the City of Los Angeles.
How does instant runoff voting work?
Instant runoff voting acts like a series of runoff elections. If any candidate receives a majority of the first choice rankings, that candidate is elected. If not, the last place candidate is defeated, just as in a runoff election, and all ballots are counted again, but this time each ballot cast for the defeated candidate counts for the next-choice candidate listed on each of those ballots. This process of eliminating the last place candidate and recounting the ballots continues until one candidate receives a majority of the vote. You can see a short interactive mini-movie of how IRV will work in LA, including how voters rank their ballots and how the ballots are counted, on the web at http://sfrcv.org/vote.
For a visual demonstration of how Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) works, watch this Flash Demonstration. Also see this flow chart representation of the IRV counting process. And visit the Political Reform Program's IRV Resources page for more resources.
What does an IRV ballot look like?
To can see a sample ballot from Takoma Park, MD, click here: Takoma Park Sample Ballot.
Who will be elected in Los Angeles using instant runoff voting?
IRV would be used to elect the mayor, city attorney, city council, controller, school board and community college board members.
Is instant runoff voting too confusing for voters?
Not at all. Many studies have examined if IRV elections used in various jurisdictions were confusing for voters. All the studies have found that voters handle ranking their ballots with ease. San Francisco State University’s Public Research Institute has conducted two exit poll studies and found that 87% of those who voted in San Francisco’s IRV elections felt they understood IRV – results that cut across all ethnic, age and gender lines. 60% of voters used all three of their rankings, and 61% preferred IRV over San Francisco’s old two round runoff system. Another poll by the Asian Law Caucus found similar results. The results undoubtedly were so positive because the role for voters is very simple—just rank as many of your favorite candidates as you wish, 1, 2, 3. It’s like going to Baskin Robbins 31 flavors of ice cream, and picking your top three flavors. We are used to ranking things all the time, from our favorite sports teams to our favorite videos and foods, so ranking candidates is easy.
Is IRV a fair and easy system for voters protected under the Voting Rights Act?
Yes. According to the San Francisco State studies, 87% of all voters said that they understood IRV. African Americans, Latinos, and Asians were the most likely groups to rank three candidates (the maximum possible). Latinos were most likely to say that ranking was easy or very easy (58%), and Latino voters had the smallest percentage of voters indicating some lack of understanding of the system, only 10%, and only 16% of African-Americans. Spanish first-language speakers had the smallest percentage of voters indicating some lack of understanding, only 9% versus 12% for English speakers. Voters whose first language was Spanish were considerably more likely than others to say that ranking candidates was easy or very easy, with almost two-thirds giving that response. Another exit poll by the Asian Law Caucus found that Asians overwhelmingly favored IRV.
Will IRV increase voter turnout?
Most likely. By allowing voters, candidates and organizations that mobilize voters to focus their efforts on a single election, it maximizes voter turnout. In San Francisco’s IRV elections, a study of voter turnout was conducted by FairVote. The report compares
voter turnout in the November 2005 Assessor-Recorder race to a baseline determined from a similar race, the 2001 City Attorney race, which was decided by a separate December runoff election. Participation in the Assessor-Recorder race nearly tripled city-wide over the December runoff baseline. The most dramatic increases occurred in the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods, with participation quadrupling over what it would have been in a December runoff.
Will IRV make more voters feel like their vote counts?
Most definitely. With IRV, if your first choice candidate can’t win your vote goes to your second choice. This liberates voters to choose the candidates you really like instead of always worrying about voting for the “lesser of two evils,” or “wasting” your vote on
spoiler candidates. It brings new candidates and their issues into the debate, leading to a more robust “marketplace of ideas,” and inspiring greater participation. IRV allows new voices and more choices to compete and motivate voters with their ideas.
Will having one election rather than two impact campaign finance reform?
Yes. IRV better supports campaign finance reform and public financing than the current system. IRV spares candidates the burden of raising money for two elections instead of one. Since 1993, $27.8 million have been donated to local candidates for their runoff campaigns, over six million dollars in 2005 alone. Runoff elections also lead to huge increases in independent expenditures, $7.5 million since 1993. In the 2005 mayoral race, independent expenditures ballooned from $602,009 in the primary to $3.1 million in the runoff. In addition, LA’s program to partially publicly fund political campaigns has given $8.9 million to candidates in runoffs. That public money all could be saved, and when combined with the tax savings from eliminating the running of a separate runoff election, tens of millions of dollars will be saved over time. That money could be used to fund an expansion of the current partial public financing of campaigns to one of full public financing.
Can IRV have an impact on the awful mudslinging and negative campaigning?
Yes. In recent LA elections, voters have been bombarded with nasty “hit” pieces, personal attacks and TV ads telling them the worst about their political leaders. In contrast, IRV discourages such mudslinging because candidates know they may need the second or third ranking from other candidates’ supporters to win. The result is a major shift in traditional campaign strategy. Instead of mudslinging, candidates have an incentive to run civil, issues-based campaigns and find common ground. Covering San Francisco’s IRV elections, one New York Times headline read: "New Runoff System in San Francisco Has the Rival Candidates Cooperating." Such coalition-building is certain to benefit the eventual winner when governing.
If there are fewer personal attacks, does that lead to more coalition-building?
Yes. With instant runoff voting, candidates have incentive to court the supporters of other candidates, asking for their second or third rankings. Successful candidates usually win by building coalitions and finding common ground, not by tearing down their opponents.
Will IRV prevent spoilers and vote-splitting?
Yes. With the current system, multiple candidates from the same constituency can “split” the vote, resulting in those candidates cancelling each other out. IRV’s ranked ballots allow voters to rank their first, second and third choices and to participate in coalitions among like-minded candidates, avoiding such vote-splitting.
Would holding one election instead of two be more environmentally friendly?
Yes. Runoff elections waste more than just time and money—at least 20.7 million pieces
of paper were needlessly wasted in the 2005 runoff on voter info pamphlets mailed to 1.5 million voters and sample ballots available at 1,599 polling sites. A blizzard of multiple campaign mailers sent out by candidates or organizations wasted an untold amount more. With only one election instead of two, less paper will be wasted and more trees will be spared.
What is the process for enacting IRV in LA?
Implementing instant runoff voting requires a change to the City Charter. The Los Angeles City Council could vote to place a Charter Amendment on the ballot, allowing voters to decide for themselves the system used to elect their representatives.
How can we bring IRV to Los Angeles?
To bring IRV to Los Angeles, voters need to approve an amendment to the City Charter. First, a majority of the LA City Council needs to approve a bill to put IRV on the ballot. After the Mayor signs the bill, it will go on the ballot.
Right now, the City Council is studying IRV and how it will benefit our city and community. If the Council and the Mayor sign off on an IRV bill by July 2, IRV will be on the ballot this November.
With instant runoff voting, I have three rankings. Does that mean I have three votes?
No. Every voter has one vote. But in case your favorite candidate doesn't win, you have the option of ranking TWO runoff choices (this is an advantage over the previous runoff system -- with IRV, you are allowed TWO runoff choices instead of one). So you mark your favorite candidate as your first choice, and your two runoff choices as your second and third rankings. But your vote does not count for any of your runoff choices until your favorite candidate has lost. That means your lower-ranked choices can never help defeat your higher-ranked choices. So there is no advantage to ranking only one candidate (sometimes known as "bullet voting").
What happens if I skip a ranking, or don't rank all three of my rankings? Will I lose my vote.
No. If you skip a ranking, your vote goes to your next ranking. If you don’t use all three of your rankings, that’s OK, ranking is optional not mandatory. However, it is best to use all three of your rankings if you like three candidates, so that if any of your ranked candidates are eliminated, your vote can go to your next runoff choice.
If I really want my first-choice candidate to win, should I rank the candidate as my first, second and third choice?
No. Ranking a candidate more than once does not benefit that candidate. There is no advantage to “bullet voting.” Your vote stays with your top-ranked candidate as long as that candidate is still in the race. But if that candidate is eliminated, and you have ranked her as your second and third choice as well, you would no longer have a runoff candidate in the race. So it’s best to use all three of your rankings for three different candidates.
Where is instant runoff voting used?
An increasing number of places have begun using IRV, including San Francisco, Cary and Hendersonville, NC, Burlington, VT, Takoma Park, MD, and the states of South Carolina, Louisiana and Arkansas for overseas voters. Voters in Oakland, Minneapolis, Pierce County, WA, Sarasota, FL and other places have passed it recently but not yet used it. Outside the U.S., the Republic of Ireland has used IRV for decades to elects its president, Australia has used it to elect its House of Representatives, and London to elect its mayor. Even children in those countries use IRV for school elections, attesting to the user-friendliness of IRV. Many major universities use IRV for their student government and faculty elections, and the American Political Science Association uses it to elect its president (and they know a thing or two about elections).
Can LA’s voting equipment handle IRV?
Modern voting equipment, such as optical scanners, can handle IRV. Older technologies such as punch cards and lever machines cannot. LA’s current vendor has stated that the current equipment, the Inkavote Plus, can be modified to run IRV elections. However, the Inkavote Plus is old equipment, and some experts recommend that Los Angeles purchase new voting equipment, whether LA uses IRV or not.
IRV has broad support across the LA spectrum, from labor leader Dolores Huerta as well as former Chamber of Commerce president Charlie Woo. Other supporters include state Senators Mark Ridley-Thomas and Jack Scott, Assemblyman Warren Furutani, LA Councilmembers Eric Garcetti, Jose Huizar, Wendy Greuel and Bill Rosendahl, LACCD Trustees Mona Field and Nancy Pearlman, LACCD Chancellor Marshall Drummond, Antonio Gonzalez, Anthony Thigpenn, National Latino Congreso, William. C. Velasquez Institute, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, African American Voter Registration Education Project, Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), UNITE HERE Local 11, San Fernando Valley Young Democrats, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, ACLU, Common Cause, CALPIRG, Asian American Action Fund-CA and others. Nationally, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have expressed their support for IRV, as has Howard Dean, and Congresspeople Barbara Lee and Jesse Jackson Jr. IRV has earned editorial endorsements from major newspapers, including USA Today, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Oakland Tribune, Seattle Times, Sacramento Bee, Trenton Times, St. Petersburg Times, San Jose Mercury News and Detroit Free Press.
Here are three ways you can help IRV:
1. Call or write your Councilmember, Council President Eric Garcetti, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Tell our leaders to do their part to bring IRV to LA.
2. Spread the word. Tell your friends, family, and colleagues about IRV. When people understand how IRV works, they tend to support it. Other effective means are to get organizations you are a part of to support IRV, or write letters to the editor to local papers and newsletters.
3. Volunteer your time. We would love your help. Please feel free to contact us at 213.480.0994 or dutta@newamerica.net.
