Instant Runoff Voting Gains Support at City Council

Instant Runoff Voting got a boost at the Los Angeles City Council Rules and Elections Committee meeting on June 13. The Los Angeles Greens endorse the use of Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), which allows voters to rank candidates by order of preference and eliminates the need for expensive run-off elections.

At the meeting, Lynne Serpe of the New America Foundation gave a presentation about the benefits of IRV. Comments to the council from local organizations and the public were overwhelmingly supportive of IRV. Representatives from the African American Voter Registration Project, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Asian American Action Fund, Common Cause, FairVote, LA VoteFIRE, League of Women Voters, and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project all spoke in favor of IRV. Several Greens also spoke to the committee in support of IRV.

To adopt IRV in Los Angeles, a majority of the City Council needs to vote to put an IRV charter amendment before the voters. Several Councilmembers have endorsed the change. Jose Huizar and Bill Rosendahl both spoke on behalf of IRV at the meeting, and Wendy Gruel sent a staffer who related the Councilmember's support for IRV.

The immediate result of the meeting is that City Clerk Frank Martinez is going to prepare a report on how to implement IRV and other electoral changes in Los Angeles. The report is planned for completion in December.

News coverage:

LA Daily News: Los Angeles may vote for change: Instant runoffs, new dates some proposals for combating low turnout

LA Daily Breeze: Instant runoff voting is worth a look

LA Times: Instant runoffs might be fix for voter fatigue