[EL] (Not Really) ranked-choice voting in SF

Mon Nov 7 09:27:40 PST 2011

I'm really surprised to hear that anyone believes no one has ever won an IRV election in San Francisco with a majority of the first place votes.  It is very well known that in the last mayoralty election, Gavin Newsom easily won on first place votes alone, with, I believe, 72% of the voters giving him a first-place vote.  I am sure Rob Richie will be chiming in; he knows more details than I do.

Richard Winger

415-922-9779

PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147

--- On Mon, 11/7/11, Douglas Johnson <djohnson at ndcresearch.com> wrote:

From: Douglas Johnson <djohnson at ndcresearch.com>
Subject: Re: [EL] (Not Really) ranked-choice voting in SF
To: "'Rick Hasen'" <rhasen at law.uci.edu>, law-election at uci.edu
Date: Monday, November 7, 2011, 8:58 AM

In San Francisco voters rank only their top three choices, not all of the candidates. As a result many voters do not participate in the final "run off," because all three of their choices have been eliminated in previous rounds.   Unlike those voters who choose not to turn out in a traditional runoff election, these SF voters have no way to know that their choices will be eliminated, and they have no way to register their preference among the final runoff candidates.  I have not personally confirmed this, but I saw one study that found none of the winners using SF's system have ever won with a majority of voters supporting them. In every case, drop-off from all three choices losing led to wins by plurality. I'd be interested to know if that study's been confirmed or disproven.  - Doug  Douglas JohnsonFellowRose Institute of State and Local Governmentm 310-200-2058o 909-621-8159douglas.johnson at cmc.edu      From:
 law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Hasen
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 7:46 AM
To: law-election at UCI.EDU
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/7/11  LA Times Previews Pearce Recall Election in Arizona Posted on November 7, 2011 8:38 am by Rick Hasen One to watch.Posted in recall elections | Comments Off “Obama’s strategic edge: cash to campaign everywhere” Posted on November 7, 2011 8:35 am by Rick Hasen The LA Times offers this front-page report.Posted in campaign finance, campaigns | Comments Off “Tell Americans to Vote, or Else” Posted on November 7, 2011 8:34 am by Rick Hasen William Galston has written this NY Times oped.  I wrote extensively on the topic of mandatory voting in the U.s. in this piece, Voting without Law?, an older Penn Law Review article that I’ve recently posted on SSRN.Posted in election administration | Comments Off “States With Strict Voter Photo ID Laws More Than Tripled In 2011″ Posted on November 7, 2011 8:30 am by Rick Hasen ABC News reports. See also this LA Times editorial, “Can’t We All Just
 Vote?”Posted in election administration, voter id | Comments Off “County plans to prevent provisional ballot problems” Posted on November 7, 2011 8:24 am by Rick Hasen An important story in the Cincinnati Enquirer, which also discusses the Hunter litigation.Posted in election administration | Comments Off “Ranked Choice Put To The Test In S.F. Mayor Race” Posted on November 7, 2011 8:21 am by Rick Hasen NPR reports.Posted in alternative voting systems | Comments Off “Small Elections Drawing Big Money In Some States” Posted on November 6, 2011 9:53 pm by Rick Hasen NPR reports.Posted in campaign finance, campaigns | Comments Off “Independent committees obscure campaign fund trail” Posted on November 6, 2011 9:46 pm by Rick Hasen The SF Chronicle reports.Posted in campaign finance | Comments Off “Democrats Target Restrictive Voter Laws” Posted on November 6, 2011 9:45 pm by Rick Hasen NPR reports.Posted in election administration,
 The Voting Wars | Comments Off “Bring Same-Day Registration Back? Maine Votes” Posted on November 6, 2011 9:43 pm by Rick Hasen NPR reports.Posted in election administration, voter registration | Comments Off WaPo Profile of Justice O’Connor Discusses Her Role on Judicial Selection Changes Posted on November 6, 2011 9:41 pm by Rick Hasen Here.Posted in judicial elections | Comments Off “Popular fallacy: a public choice analysis of Electoral College reform” Posted on November 5, 2011 1:29 pm by Rick Hasen Brandon Draper has written this article for the International Journal of Public Law and Policy.  Here is the abstract:This article contends that the demand for Electoral College reform that occurs during every US presidential election season, most notably after the 2000 presidential election controversy, is largely misguided. Individuals demanding reform mainly seek to replace the Electoral College with an election system that, unlike the
 Electoral College, guarantees that the winner earns the most national popular votes. However, public choice provides a unique framework for assessing the inherent flaws of these reforms against the Electoral College. This article, under a public choice analysis, will seek to explain the deficiencies of the Electoral College, but more importantly, explain why reforms to or the abolishment of the Electoral College may either fail to solve US presidential election problems or even exacerbate them. Posted in electoral college | Comments Off “Rules of the Game: Campaign Finance Rules Too Lax, Some Say” Posted on November 5, 2011 1:24 pm by Rick Hasen Eliza’s latest.Posted in campaign finance | Comments Off “Ohio Redistricting Compromise Looks ‘Dead’” Posted on November 5, 2011 11:21 am by Rick Hasen Roll Call reports.Posted in redistricting | Comments Off “Cain’s Legal Team: The Bopp Connection” Posted on November 5, 2011 11:19 am by
 Rick Hasen The WSJ Law Blog reports.Posted in campaign finance, election law biz | Comments Off -- 
Rick Hasen
Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org
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