New America Foundation Commends LA County Supervisor on Call for IRV

Los Angeles, CA -- Today, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas called for Los Angeles County to look into using instant runoff voting (IRV) for future special elections in order to increase voter turnout and lower election costs.

In last week's special election to fill the state Senate seat vacated by Ridley-Thomas, none of the candidates received the required 50 percent plus one in order to avoid a separate runoff election. Under the current special election rules, the top candidates from each party will now face each other in a runoff election on May 19. The special elections to fill the state Senate seat are estimated to cost $2.2 million.

The IRV system called for by Ridley-Thomas elects political representatives with a majority of the vote in a single election. No second-round runoff election or primary election is necessary.  Voters rank the candidates in order of their preference -- first choice, second choice, third choice -- and if their first choice cannot win, their vote goes to their second choice candidate as their runoff choice. In addition to combating low voter turnout, IRV saves taxpayers money.

"We are very pleased that Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas has introduced this motion on instant runoff voting and we look forward to working with him to adopt instant runoff voting for special elections," said Gautam Dutta, Deputy Director of the Political Reform Program at the New America Foundation. "We thank the Supervisor and his staff for their leadership on this issue."

New America's Political Reform Program has long called for instant runoff voting and has advised cities and counties across the state on its usage.

The following New America Foundation expert is available to discuss IRV:

• Gautam Dutta, Deputy Director, Political Reform Program

For interviews please contact:

Liz Wu
510-295-9859 (m)
wu@newamerica.net

About New America
The New America Foundation is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute whose purpose is to bring exceptionally promising new ideas and new voices to the fore of our nation's public discourse. New America is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and has offices in California.