GO

Search Our Site

66 San Francisco, CA
SUNNY

SECTIONS

TRAFFIC

VIDEO

San Francisco

East Bay

South Bay

ALAMEDA COUNTY CITIES TRY RANKED

CHOICE VOTING
Share

Tweet

October 19, 2010 6:18:50 PM PDT

By Cecilia Vega
OAKLAND, CA -- We are just two weeks away from the Nov. 2 election and early voting is
already underway. Ranked choice voting is taking place for the first time in three Alameda
County cities, including Oakland. There are some candidates running for mayor in Oakland
who are hoping the instant runoff system will be their ticket to City Hall.
The absentee ballots in Alameda County are already pouring in and this year, ranked choice
voting means ballots will be counted differently come Election Day. It's a change that could
have sweeping repercussions on the most high profile race in the East Bay.
College professor and political analyst Joe Tuman is one of 10 candidates running to be
Oakland's next mayor. He's considered the dark horse in the race, but hopes ranked choice is
his ticket to City Hall.
"I don't mind that title at all. Ranked choice voting means a dark horse can be a winner in this
system," says Tuman.
In ranked choice, voters rank their top three choices. If no candidate gets a majority, the
lowest vote-getter is eliminated -- a process that continues until someone wins more than 50
percent of the vote.
But political strategist David Latterman says past elections show it's a system that doesn't
necessarily help lesser known candidates.
"Nope, in fact it hurts them because when voters have more to think about and have more to
choose, they tend to even more go with the people they've heard of," says Latterman.
Many politicians like ranked choice because it avoids the need for an expensive run-off, but
some voters have their complaints.
In Alameda County, San Leandro and Berkeley will also use ranked choice voting for the first
time.
"If you want someone for mayor you don't want one, two or three, you want that person for
mayor," says William Miller, a San Leandro resident.
There is one thing that's virtually guaranteed with rank choice voting, voters in Oakland will
have no idea who their new mayor is on election night.
"It takes probably a couple of weeks to process all of the ballots. So nothing will be final on
election night," says Dave Macdonald from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.
In fact, it could be days, maybe weeks, before a result is known.
ABC7 News, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and the San Jose Mercury News are hosting
a debate in the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The debate between Tom Torlakson and Larry Aceves will stream live at ABC7News.com on
Thursday from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. It will then air on ABC 7, Sunday at 11 a.m.

Peninsula

North Bay

LOAD COMMENTS

Home

San Francisco

AccuWeather

East Bay

Traffic

South Bay

Video

Peninsula

Photos

North Bay

Search Our Site

Follow Us

Apps
Privacy Policy

Children's Privacy Policy

Your California Privacy Rights

Copyright 2016 ABC Inc., KGO-TV San Francisco. All Rights Reserved.
64em/1024px

Terms of Use

Interest-Based Ads

Public Inspection File

GO