Shawn Griffiths
REDONDO BEACH, CALIF. - Redondo Beach used ranked choice voting (RCV) for the first time on March 4 during its municipal elections and according to new data from Lake Research Partners, voters liked it.
In fact, the group's polling found that 87% of Redondo Beach voters said they understood RCV well and 61% said they favor the new voting method compared to the 25% who opposed it.
“Everywhere ranked choice voting is used, voters say they like and understand it – and Redondo Beach is no exception,” said Cal RCV Executive Director Marcela Miranda-Caballero.
The poll found that only 12% of respondents thought RCV was difficult compared to the 83% who said they found it simple. Further, 3 out every 4 voters ranked two or more candidates.
“RCV empowers voters with more choices, and eliminates costly runoffs that ask voters to come back to the polls and vote in the same election two months later," said Miranda-Caballero.
She added that "Redondo Beach is showing Southern California how cities can improve their elections with ranked choice voting.”
RCV is used in many jurisdictions in California, including Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, and San Leandro. It's also been approved by voters in Davis, Ojai, and Santa Clara County.
It is also available to all voters in public elections in over 50 cities, counties, and states that represent more than 17 million people.
Special thanks to Will Mantell at FairVote for providing updates on this story.