For all those San Franciscans outraged that they could only mark their three top choices in last month’s election for mayor, help is on the way. A proposed charter amendment by Supervisor David Campos clears the way for voters to rank five, 10, 20 or more candidates in upcoming ranked-choice elections.
Campos’ measure, which is designed to counter a proposed June ballot measure by supervisors Mark Farrell and Sean Elsbernd that would end ranked-choice voting in the city, calls for any new voting equipment to allow ranking of more than the current three choices, up to the total number of candidates.
If that happens, the city might want to add chairs to the voting booths, since the mayor’s race featured 16 candidates and ranking them all might take awhile. Then there was last year’s District 10 race out in the Bayview, where 21 hopefuls appeared on the ballot. Try ranking that crew in order of preference.
“It’s about giving voters a choice, to the extent that’s technically allowed,” Campos said this afternoon. “We want to make sure people have more of a say.”
The supervisor introduced the proposed ballot measure late Tuesday night at the marathon Board of Supervisor’s meeting. Campos needs six votes to put it on the ballot.
Campos also wants to see more of the city’s top elected officials on the same ballot, which is bad news for the city attorney and the city treasurer. Under the new proposal, their election in 2013 would be for two-year terms, which would put them on the same 2015 ballot as the mayor, district attorney and sheriff. He’s also open to having the assessor-recorder and public defender, up for election in 2014, share a ballot with the rest of the city officials.
Full Article: Supporters seek ‘tweaks’ in ranked-choice voting | City Insider | an SFGate.com blog.