IRV Gets Long Beach Hearing

In a welcome development, Long Beach City Hall has scheduled a committee hearing to discuss the merits of Instant Runoff Voting (IRV).

The Council’s Budget Oversight Committee will discuss IRV during its next meeting, which will be held on Aug. 31, 5 pm, in City Hall Chambers (333 W. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach CA 90802).

If you can attend the hearing, please let us know at 213.480.0994 or dutta AT newamerica.net.

The agenda for the Aug. 31 hearing can be accessed here (IRV is Item # 8).

By eliminating separate runoff elections, IRV will not only relieve voter fatigue, but will save up to $1.2 million in taxpayer dollars per election (source: Long Beach City Clerk). Already, Councilmembers Suja Lowenthal, Gary DeLong, Robert Garcia and Val Lerch have joined the Los Angeles League in supporting IRV.



Currently, Long Beach holds costly, two-round elections that fatigue voters and waste millions of dollars. In April 2008, only 12 percent of registered voters participated in the municipal election, which cost Long Beach taxpayers nearly $700,000 — a whopping $60 per voter.



Currently, IRV is being studied by Los Angeles County and the cities of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Pasadena. IRV has already been adopted by San Francisco, Oakland, Minneapolis, Memphis, Burlington VT, and Santa Fe. At a time of fiscal and economic crisis, IRV saves San Francisco taxpayers about $3 million every year.



In a nutshell, IRV allows voters to rank their top 3 choices (1-2-3). This way, if your top choice cannot win, there’s no need to vote again. Instead, your vote will automatically go to your second choice. More detailed information about IRV is available at IRVforLongBeach.org.

To bring IRV to Long Beach, voters need to approve an amendment to the City Charter. For this to happen, a majority of the nine-person City Council must first approve legislation to put IRV on the ballot.