Yes on Oakland Measure O - Ranked Choice Voting

Oakland voters have a wonderful opportunity to advance democratic elections.

Oakland's Measure O would introduce ranked-choice or "instant runoff" voting (IRV), to elect city offices by a majority vote at a November election, without holding a prior June election. IRV thus eliminates the need for primary elections.

The new system would be more democratic, and would improve the chances of candidates who care about the environment.

• November elections usually have much larger turnouts, more representative of the community as a whole, and particularly of its environmental concerns.
• With only one election, candidates are freed from a second round of raising money. This lets them focus more on the issues rather than fundraising and makes them more independent of special-interest donors.
• With only one election, candidates have more time for policy-making, for instance for working to pass environmentally friendly laws.
• IRV also stimulates more participation by candidates who aren't wealthy and who don't have big fundraising operations, and by candidates from outside the predominant two-party system. Third-party candidates can run without being labeled spoilers.

IRV is a proven system. It has been implemented in San Francisco, where it has been a success, saving tens of millions of dollars. Voters have found it convenient and easy to understand. IRV played a very positive role there in keeping a pro-environmental majority on the Board of Supervisors in the 2004 election, where it enabled two good candidates to avoid costly runoffs against downtown-funded opponents.

For these reasons, the Sierra Club Bay Chapter has supported IRV in several cities and urges Oakland voters to vote yes on Measure O.