Oakland voters may get a chance to weigh in on the city’s use of ranked-choice voting and the number of terms council members can serve. Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente wants to see a November ballot measure that asks voters to repeal ranked-choice voting in city elections, while Councilwoman Jane Brunner wants voters to consider limiting the terms of City Council members and the city attorney to three four-year terms. Currently there are no term limits. The proposals would require a majority council vote to get on the fall ballot. The council is expected to vote on them in mid-May.
The measures, in part, reflect off the current makeup of the city’s elected leadership. Many of the council members have served multiple terms in office, and Mayor Jean Quan spectacularly rose to office thanks to ranked-choice voting.
“I don’t think we should experiment with the idea of one person, one vote,” said De La Fuente, Quan’s chief critic on the council. “When you get a person who gets elected to the highest office without a clear mandate of majority vote, I don’t think it’s in the best interest of anybody.”
Full Article: Oakland rethinks ranked-choice voting, term limits.