As it stands, Long Beach\u2019s municipal elections operate on the traditional voting method \u2014 wherein any candidate can run for an open office during a primary election. If a candidate receives 50% + 1 of the vote in that first election, they win outright. But if there\u2019s no outright majority, the top two candidates move to a runoff in a secondary election.<\/p>\n
Ranked-choice voting, on the other hand, aims to streamline the voting process for both voters and candidates alike. Instead of voting for one person, residents rank each candidate by preference.<\/p>\n
If a candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, they will win that election outright. If no candidate has a majority of the first-choice votes after the first ballot tally, an instant run-off process is triggered. The ballots are again tallied and the process continues until one candidate wins a majority \u2014\u00a0meaning there\u2019s no need for a secondary run-off to determine the true winner of a given race.<\/p>\n
Renee Holliday and Erin Hoops, members of the steering committee for RCV in the LBC, argued in their presentation to the EHRC that ranked-choice voting has many benefits for voters, including higher voter turnout, cheaper elections, lower barriers-to-entry for political candidates, shorter campaign timelines, policy-driven campaigning and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at the finances for our councilmembers, most of them fundraise over $100,000 to run for office in Long Beach. This is out of reach for a lot of people, young people \u2014 not everyone has rich friends, and that shouldn\u2019t be a prerequisite to run for office,\u201d Hoops said during the presentation, \u201cand so cutting the election time down gives more people the opportunity to run.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Members of RCV in the LBC outside watch the group\u2019s Jan. 7, presentation to the city\u2019s Equity & Human Relations Commission. (Photo courtesy RCV in the LBC\/Sean Mykael McMullen).\n<\/p>\n
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Members of RCV in the LBC outside City Hall on Jan. 7, following the group\u2019s presentation to the city\u2019s Equity & Human Relations Commission. (Photo courtesy RCV in the LBC\/Sean Mykael McMullen).\n<\/p>\n
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Members of RCV in the LBC outside watch the group\u2019s Jan. 7, presentation to the city\u2019s Equity & Human Relations Commission. (Photo courtesy RCV in the LBC\/Sean Mykael McMullen).\n<\/p>\n
Expand<\/a><\/p>\n Ranked-choice voting, which has been implemented elsewhere in California and across the nation, also improves voter turnout, the RCV members said. Data in Long Beach, according to Holliday, consistently shows that far more people turn out to vote in general elections \u2014 when the top two candidates from the primary \u2014 have already been selected, or the majority winner was already outright elected during the primary.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll take 2024, for example. In 2024, 98,000 extra people voted in the general election than they did in the primary election. But by then, three of the four City Council seats that were up for grabs were already decided on in the primary,\u201d Holliday said. \u201cThat means, of those 98,000 people, whoever was in those four districts did not get to decide who their city council member was. I think that\u2019s particularly egregious.\u201d<\/p>\n Ranked-choice voting, though, would effectively eliminate that problem \u2014 since residents would only need to make their decisions once, rather than voting in multiple elections. And since ranked-choice voting eliminates the need for secondary run-off elections, it will also save the city money.<\/p>\n Redondo Beach was the first city in Los Angeles County to approve ranked-choice voting for its municipal offices in 2023<\/a>, with proponents of the change arguing similar points as RCV in the LBC at the time.\u00a0The city held its first ranked-choice voting election<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n Palm Desert, Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, San Leandro and, more recently, San Francisco also use ranked-choice voting to elect most of their local officials \u2014 but in LA County, Redondo Beach still stands alone.<\/p>\n