SF Revives Push To Ditch Ranked Choice Voting
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - City leaders have once again taken up the debate over whether to eliminate ranked choice voting in San Francisco.
A ballot measure being considered for November would ditch ranked choice for citywide elections, but keep the controversial system for supervisors races.
Runoff elections between the top two vote-getters would decide contests for mayor, sheriff, city attorney, district attorney, treasurer and assessor where no candidate got a 50 percent plus one vote majority.
KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:
"This is what we could get the majority of the Board of Supervisors to agree to. I think it is a step in the right direction, so I think we should go forward," said Supervisor Mark Farrell.
He and a majority of the supervisors have co-sponsored a charter amendment being taken up Thursday by a supervisors committee, the last step before the full board decides whether to put the issue before city voters in the fall.
Supporters of ranked choice voting argue that system eliminates the need for costly runoff elections that typically result in low turnout. A competing proposal to keep, or even expand, ranked choice voting has been shelved.
Recent polling by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce found dissatisfaction with ranked choice voting increased after the November 2011 election.
"After coming off a mayor's race, people want to go back to run-offs," said Jim Lazarus, the chamber's vice president.
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