Santa Monica Ranked Voting

Candidate Surveys Are In!

A warm thanks to all of the candidates that responded to our questionnaires. We surveyed all of the city council, college board, and school board candidates. The results are very exciting. A majority of the city council candidates responded, and the replies are very encouraging. You can find a summary of the council candidates' responses here. Two of the candidates for Santa Monica College Board of Trustees also gave us very encouraging responses. The responses from the college board candidates are summarized here. Based on these results, we believe that the city of Santa Monica will be ready to seriously consider Choice Voting after November, with the possibility of using it for the first time in 2006 if there is enough demonstration of public support for the new system. Also, the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees will likely be in a good position to vote on a resolution calling on the California state legislature to give college boards the authority to implement Choice Voting. Yay!

Summary of our September Meeting

We had a very successful meeting on September 7th, you can read all about it right here. We are making plans for election day, to hold a mock Instant Runoff election on the same day as the actual election. Can you volunteer to help out for an hour or two before or after work on November 2nd? Let me know if you would like to participate.

Letter to the Editor in SM Mirror

Amy got a letter to the editor in the SM Mirror and surfsantamonica.com earlier this month suggesting that SMRR look into the use of ranked voting for their endorsement process. You can read what was printed in the Mirror here. Mention this idea to SMRR members that you know and keep the issue alive!

Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition Adopts Instant Runoff Voting to Elect Its Officers

On Saturday, July 10th, Wilshire/Montana made history by voting 24-6 to adopt IRV for election of its officers by the board. Amy spoke about IRV at the meeting to an audience of nearly 100 people. Wishire/Montana is the first neighborhood organization in Santa Monica to adopt ranked voting for its elections. There was an article on surfsantamonica.com about the meeting; you can read it here. Also, check out this article in The Mirror.

SCA14 Passes Election and Reapportionment Committee Vote

That's right. SCA14, the Senate amendment that would enact Instant Runoff Voting for statewide offices, passed by a 3-0 vote from the CA Senate Elections and Reapportionment Committee!! Huzzah! Next, the bill faces the Constitutional Amendment Committee. Thanks to all of you who wrote letters and made phone calls. There were a few amendments made to SCA14 before it was voted out of the committee, including 2 out of 3 of the amendments suggested by Santa Monica Ranked Voting (they were probably suggested by other people too) in this letter (in case you don't like MSWord, here's the text version). The amendments will be posted here soon, but here is a preview, from personal communication with an aide from Sen. Vasconcellos's office. Stay tuned for the date for the Constitutional Amendment Committee hearing!

Undervoting study gets lots of press!

A big article on our study of undervoting in Santa Monica appeared in the Santa Monica Daily Press today, at the top of the front page, no less! The study was also covered in this article at surfsantamonica.com and in this article in the Santa Monica Mirror. We're all over the papers! We're very excited about all three articles; thanks to those publications for letting their readers know about the rampant undervoting problem! Through our own error, the location of our next meeting is stated incorrectly in the Daily Press article. It is being held at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at 9th and Wilshire, June 8, 7:30 pm. We hope to see you all there!

DONATE!

Make a donation to Santa Monica Ranked Voting! We are accomplishing a lot here at Santa Monica Ranked Voting, and we could use your financial support.

Can you donate $40?

Your contributions would:

• Help maintain this website, currently the only site established by any chapter of Californians for Electoral Reform.
  
• Help us with materials costs, like printing ballots for our extremely popular mock IRV elections, or making brochures so we can get the word out about our organization.
  
• Allow us to rent meeting space, since coffeeshop meetings can be cramped and noisy.
  
• Hopefully, fund trips to Sacramento to lobby the state government about electoral reform
  

Donations can be made through our parent organization, the Midwest Democracy Center. From their website, you can make a donation via PayPal, or by mail a check to us directly at:

Santa Monica Ranked Voting
P.O. Box 3752
Chicago, IL 90408

If your donation is made through PayPal, please indicate on the form that your contribution supports Santa Monica Ranked Voting, and 100% of your contribution will go to SMRV!

Next Meeting is June 8th at 7:30 pm - SMRV's 1/2 Year Birthday!

Our next meeting is already soon upon us, and it will be "Get Involved, Part II." At our last meeting, we brought a list of projects for people to work on to promote Instant Runoff Voting and Choice Voting in Santa Monica and statewide. You came through-- we got many letters written and ranked-voting-related organizing set in motion. At this meeting, we will bring many new and different ideas so that you may continue help us advance the cause.

This will be our 6th meeting, and so after the meeting we will be celebrating Santa Monica Ranked Voting's 1/2 year birthday. Join us for a drink!

Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition to Vote on IRV in July

Members of the Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition will vote in July at their annual meeting whether to use Instant Runoff Voting to elect their officers. The Wilshire/Montana board voted overwhelmingly at its April meeting to put this issue to its members. The membership meeting is currently scheduled for July 24th. If you live in the Wilshire/Montana area, come to the meeting and vote! If you know anyone else who lives in the neighborhood, spread the news.

SMRV conducts IRV election at Santa Monica Festival

Amy was at the Santa Monica Festival on May 1st, collecting ballots to determine Santa Monica's favorite saint (besides Monica, of course). Once again, this election shows that IRV elections provide a clearer mandate for the policies of elected officials. Check out the full story here. As always, thanks to those who participated in the election!

A graphical summary of the election results can be found here.