League Questions Delay

East Bay voters in the cities of Oakland and Berkeley have overwhelmingly approved using Instant Runoff Voting for local elections. Both cities are slated to use IRV—also known as Ranked Choice Voting—for the first time in 2010. But heel-dragging on the part of state election officials—and questionable interference by an Oakland mayoral candidate—has local activists wondering what the heck is going on.

Last week, the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville, San Leandro, Castro Valley, Hayward, San Lorenzo and Oakland sent a letter to California Secretary of State Debra Bowen expressing their concern over the delay in implementation of IRV in the East Bay.

In order for Oakland and Berkeley to use IRV, the voting machine hardware and software used by those cities must first be approved by the Secretary of State. As the League points out in their letter, San Francisco uses the same exact system to conduct their local IRV elections. The League then poses this question to Secretary Bowen: “Please explain to us why Alameda County is not being allowed to “piggy-back” on the approval that has been granted to San Francisco, to use the identical election systems. We have heard no adequate explanation for this, and our cities are running out of time in order to call, or not to call, elections for 2010.”

Berkeley voters approved IRV by an 80% majority in 2004; Oakland voters adopted IRV with 69% of the vote in 2006. Once implemented, IRV will combine what were formerly two rounds of elections into one. IRV not only saves money by eliminating one unnecessary and expensive election, it also allows more voters to have a say in who elects local officials. That’s because IRV moves the decisive election from June—when most races were wrapped up in low turnout primaries—to the much higher turnout November election. Not everyone likes the idea of more voters weighing in, however. Low turnout elections are good for some candidates—particularly those with name recognition and political machines behind them.

The East Bay Express reported last week that one Oakland mayoral candidate is trying to delay the use of IRV because the old two round system of elections would provide him with an advantage. Two round elections also favor those with big donors in the wings who can finance what are essentially two separate campaigns for the same office. This blog won’t name the aforementioned mayoral candidate because we won’t sully these pages with that kind of political chicanery. (We will, however, happily provide the link to the East Bay Express article for those of you who want to dig up the dirt).

Alameda County Registrar of Voters Dave MacDonald has been putting together plans for the cities’ IRV elections and has repeatedly told local citizens and activists that he is ready to go. MacDonald has been holding meetings with members of the League, election officials and other concerned citizens to discuss the plans for voter outreach and education to make sure that all voters know how to vote the instant runoff way—(which really is as easy as One, Two, Three).

League members held a press conference on Friday along with representatives from a number of East Bay community organizations to question the delay. If city officials or the Secretary of State continue their foot-dragging, things could get interesting. Now that Oakland’s city charter has been changed and the County Registrar has indicated his readiness to implement the new system, there really is no turning back. There is no longer a provision in the city charter for Oakland to use the old system.

So what’s the hold-up?

The League of Women Voters is ready to go and to do their part of the necessary public education and outreach. The Registrar of Alameda County, his staff and his voting machines are ready to go. Accordingly, the League of Women Voters has placed the issue directly before the Secretary of State. Their letter to the Secretary concludes this way:

“With all systems “go” on our end, please assure us that you are doing your part and that your approval will be quickly forthcoming, in adequate time for the cities and county to proceed with these elections as the voters intended.”