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Home My WebLink About20.a. Receive overview and discuss Ranked Choice and Approval Voting Election Methods Page 1 of 15 Item 20.a. CENTRAL SAN BOARD OF DIRECTORS POSITION PAPER MEETING DATE: DECEMBER 2, 2021 SUBJECT: RECEIVE SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION AND HOLD DISCUSSION ON ALTERNATIVE ELECTION VOTING METHODS [GUEST SPEAKER - COREY COOK, PHD, VICE PROVOST FOR ACADEMIC PROGRAMS AND PLANNING, SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA] SUBMITTED BY: INITIATING DEPARTMENT: EMILY BARNETT, COMMUNICATIONS AND ADMINISTRATION-COMM SVCS AND GOVERNMENT RELATIONS MANAGER INTERGOV REL REVIEWED BY: PHILIP R. LEIBER, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION Roger S. Bailey General Manager ISSUE Ranked Choice and Approval Voting are alternative options to the current election process used by Central San and Contra Costa County to conduct elections. BACKGROUND At the June 17, 2021 Board of Directors (Board) meeting, Member Lauritzen requested public education presentations to review ranked choice voting and approval voting election methods. The Board agreed to first send these topics to the Administration Committee for discussion. Two speakers with expertise in ranked choice voting and two additional speakers with expertise in approval voting provided information at a Special Board meeting held on September 14, 2021, so that all Board Members could attend and discuss. Subsequently, it had been requested to provide further Board discussion on alternative voting methods. Corey Cook, PhD agreed to conduct an additional presentation on research related to alternative voting in the Bay Area at this meeting. Dr. Cook serves as the Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Planning December 2, 2021 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 162 of 176 Page 2 of 15 at Saint Mary's College of California. ALTERNATIVES/CONSIDERATIONS The Board could either: 1. Determine to maintain the current election process for Central San Board of Directors appointments. 2. Direct staff to pursue legislative options that would allow special districts, like Central San, to conduct alternative voting methods for future elections; or 3. Provide other direction to staff. FINANCIAL IMPACTS Should the Board direct staff to pursue legislative options, possible cost-incurring tasks may include: procuring the services of a contract lobbying firm to find an author and write the legislation; build a coalition to support, submit, and usher the legislation through state committees and floor processes; and request the Governor's signature should the bill reach that milestone. Should the Board succeed with the legislative option and choose to pursue the alternative voting methods, community education and marketing outreach would be necessary to explain the election changes to voters at both the District and County level. It is anticipated that significant staff time to oversee the process, create educational or notification materials, and conduct public outreach would be required. COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION The September 14, 2021 Administration Committee was rescheduled as a Special Board meeting so that all Board Members had the opportunity to participate in the public education presentations. No action was taken by the Board. RECOMMENDED BOARD ACTION Receive the presentation by Corey Cook, PhD and provide direction to staff as applicable. ATTACHMENTS: 1. Presentation December 2, 2021 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 163 of 176 - Ifflur - - !rte`°; +'d..� � - .• _ i44cam,•: 'Y e I .. ... I `S J .x, _ - :'$M1 ; .tf • A�. RANKED CHOICE VOTING i / 1 AN ACADEMIC PERSPECTIVE CENTRAL SAN BOARD - DECEMBER 2, 2021 SAINT _ MARY'S COLLEGE of CALIFORNIA PL. ECTORAL SYSTEMS MATTER Candidate Behavior A single citywide constituency To differentiate or not Negative campaigning An "Anybody But" campaign Voter Behavior Sincere or strategic voting Voter expression of preferences 2 Agenda Packet- Page 165 of 176 THERE IS NO PERFECT SYSTEM Arrow's Impossibility Theorem Voting systems aggregate individual preferences into a group decision Only two options — democratic systems function well. More than two options — no perfect system. Plurality voting Spoiler candidates and Strategic voting Extremist candidates Negative campaigning 3 DSai1 a,)N2aNb %iC da lifW4iag Agenda Packet- Page 166 of 176 RANKEY,..,oHOICE • TINq IN Tw ' Ranked Choice Voting in 23 jurisdictions including: • State of Maine • New York City • Minneapolis • St. Paul • San Francisco • Oakland • Berkeley • San Leandro 4 Agenda Packet- Page 167 of 176 WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY? California state law limited ranked choice voting to charter cities Current law "does not permit general law cities and counties, nor school and special districts, to adopt alternative voting methods commonly known as ranked choice or instant run-off voting. These types of jurisdictions are limited to traditional voting methods whereby candidates are elected by either attaining a plurality of votes in a single election or through a run-off election held on a later date. Charter cities and charter counties, however, currently have the ability to adopt alternative voting methods through the charter amendment process. 5 DSai*Ma)N2 iNb %iC da lifM4iag Agenda Packet- Page 168 of 176 SB 212 (2019) Passed Assembly 56- 18 and Senate 29-9 Permits a city, county, county board of education , school district, or community college district, with voter approval , to elect governing board members using RCV, as specified . Provides that governing board members elected to a full term using RCV pursuant to this bill shall only be elected in a general election held in November of an even-numbered year. 6 Agenda Packet- Page 169 of 176 SB 212 (2019) Requires a jurisdiction that uses RCV to elect governing board members to conduct a voter education and outreach campaign, as follows: a) Requires the voter education and outreach campaign to be conducted before each RCV election. . . b) Requires the campaign to include public meetings and public service announcements through different media, including media serving non-English language communities . . . c) Requires the jurisdiction to develop a plan for the voter education and outreach campaign in collaboration with the county elections official. 7 DSai*Wa)N2 iNkI�g%iCaMifW4iag Agenda Packet- Page 170 of 176 SB 212 (2019) OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR OCT 13 2019 To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 212 wrfhcO my signature_ This bill authorizes general law cities, counties, and school dislricts to conduct a local election using ranked choice vcfing. Ranked choice is an experiment that has been tried in several charter cities in alifcrnia. Where it has been implemented, I orn coricerned that it has often led to voter confvsion, and that the promise that ranked choice voting leads to greeter dernocracy is not necessarily fulfilled.The state would benefit from learning more from charter Citi s who use ranked choice voting b-efore broadly expanding t system. Sinc ly, Gavin Ne s m 8 D��Ib�}�1y�8 � Pa �ili �lli�g Agenda Packet- Page 171 of 176 WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY? A) Voter Turnout B) More Candidates and Better Representation C) Increased Civility and Reduced Negative Campaigning D) Voter Confusion E) Voter Error F) Difficulty of Administration G) Majority Outcomes 9 DSai1 a,)N2aNb %iC da lifft4iag Agenda Packet- Page 172 of 176 RCV IN PRACTICE Election results Eric L.Adams won the DEM Mayor Citywide Primary with 404,513 of the votes in the final round. Eric L.Adams defeatEd Kathryn A.Garcia,who received 397,316 of final votes. How the votes were counted-Xnd by round Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 3 Round 8 Paperboy Love Prince;Aaron S.Foldenauer;Art Chang; RaymondJ-McGuire;Dianne Eliminated in this round Write-ins Isaac Wright Jr. Joycelyn Taylor Shaun Donovan Morales;Scott M.StringerAndrew Yang Maya D.Wiley Elected Eric L.Adams* 96 of votes of votes of votes of votes %of votes %of votes 96 of votes of Votes in this round #votes vote transfered #votes vote transfered #votes vote trarnsfered #votes vote transfered #votes vote tran5rered #votes vote transfered #votes vote transfered 4votes vote Eric L.Adams 289,403 30-7% 200 2891603 30.8% 452 290,055 30.9% 1751 291,806 31.254 3992 295,798 31.7% 21294 317,092 34.5% 37565 354,657 40-5% 49656 444,513 50.4% Maya D.Wiley 201,127 21-4% 66 201,193 21.4% 325 241,518 21.4% 4495 206,013 22.0% 3095 209,108 22.4% 30066 239,174 26.1% 15554 254,728 29-1% -)= Kathryn A.Garcia 184,463 19-6% 108 184571 19.6% 98 164,669 19.6% 2062 186,731 19.9% 5145 191,876 20.5% 31758 223,634 24.4% 43298 266,932 30-5% 130384 397,316 49.6% Andrew Yang 115,1.30 12.2% 171 115,301 12.2% 201 115,502 12.3% 2546 118,008 12.6% 3589 121,597 13.0% 14089 135,656 14.9% -Xxx Scott M.Stringer 51,776 5-5% 72 51,650 5.5% 101 51,951 5.5% 1548 53,599 5.7% 3124 56,723 6.1% -Xxx Dianne Morales 26,495 2.8% 39 26,534 2.8% 111 26,645 2.9% 5512 30,157 3.2% 776 30,933 3.S% -Xxx Raymond J-McGuire 25,242 2-7% 30 25,272 2.7% 146 25,418 2.7% 943 26,361 2.9% 1573 27,934 3.0% -Xxx Shaun Donavan 23,167 2.5% 22 23,169 2.5% 125 23,314 2.5% 728 24,043 2.6% -X]111 Aaron S.Foldenauer 7,742 0-8% 16 7,758 0.8% 61 71819 4.9% -XXX Art Chang 7,046 0.7% 16 7,064 0.8% 29 7,093 4.9% -KXX Paperboy Lave Prince 3,964 0-4% 43 4M7 0.4% 53 4,050 4.4% -KXX Joycelyn Taylor 2,662 0-3% 21 2,683 0.3% 97 2,780 0.3% -IDIX Isaac Wright Jr. 2,242 02% 12 2,254 0.2% -X101 Write-ins 1,566 02% -Xxx Inactive haIlots 752 752 455 1,207 4107 5,314 2748 8,062 18383 26,445 39269 65,714 74488 144,242 O O 10 DSai"a)�6901�llClfL iWgilag Agenda Packet- Page 173 of 176 TYPICAL RCV ELECTIONS IRL • Clear Victors • Frontrunners who gain • Challengers who unite • Dead heats • Scrambles 11 Agenda Packet- Page 174 of 176 WHAT MATTERS IN RCV ELECTIONS? • Works best in high intensity/high information races, where voters have clear preferences among fewer candidates. • Works worst in low intensity/low information races, where voters have limited or unclear preferences among many candidates. • Election administration matters ! • Voter outreach and education matters ! • Voting machines and voting equipment matter! 12 Agenda Packet- Page 175 of 176 ut ....-MEr'i.. ,` ... ,•TY—:-arm -- �--- _—_ -� - ____ � THANK YOU ! SAINT • - . , . MARY'S A 94575COLLAGE 925.631 .4000• 4„ ' of CALIFORNIA