Ranked-Choice Voting

"No electoral system is perfect, but we believe ranked-choice voting has improved San Francisco's elections in ways that are not fully appreciated. For example, thanks partly to ranked-choice voting, political representation of the city's racial and ethnic diversity has substantially increased.

"First, studies show that electorates in low-turnout primary elections held in June or September are typically older, whiter and wealthier than those voting in November. The same unrepresentative result is often found for December runoff elections, when turnouts are usually much lower than for November elections. In the November 2012 supervisorial elections, 73 percent of registered voters participated, including many low-income people of color inspired to vote by the presidential election. In the five board races, all winners were people of color.

"Second, candidates for office under ranked choice voting must establish a strong base of first-choice rankings but also earn enough second- and third-choice rankings to build a winning electoral coalition. Ranked choice voting rewards candidates who get out into the community and broaden their appeal to a more diverse spectrum of voters. Analysis of round-by-round ranked choice voting results reveals that minority candidates, such as the recently elected London Breed and Norman Yee, have become increasingly skilled at using such tactics to win.

"Third, with its unique ballot interface inviting voters to rank candidates 1, 2, 3, ranked choice voting allows voters to apply multiple criteria - race being just one of them - when evaluating candidates for a single office. Ranked-choice voting is well-suited to cities such as San Francisco and Oakland, which have a high degree of racial/ethnic, social and cultural diversity, a high level of political activism and mobilization, and multiple axes of political conflict."

Richard DeLeon is professor emeritus of political science at San Francisco State University.

https://www.fairvote.org/ranked-choice-voting-in-bay-area-elections