Media Advisory: IRV Hearing at LA City Hall
Los Angeles CA, June 24, 2008. On Wednesday, a Los
Angeles City Council committee may launch the process of placing a key
election reform on the Nov. 2008 ballot: Instant Runoff Voting (IRV).
The hearing on IRV, called by the Rules and Government Committee, will
be held June 25, 3 pm in Los Angeles City Hall, Room 1070.
By allowing voters to rank their choices (1-2-3), IRV will eliminate
the need for costly runoff elections. The City Clerk estimates that IRV
would save LA taxpayers $8 to $9 million per election. Majority
winners will be decided in a single election. In this manner, IRV will
help solve two chronic problems that plague Los Angeles voters and
taxpayers: voter fatigue and wasteful, expensive runoff elections.
Last year, barely 6 percent of registered voters cast a ballot for the
May runoff election (Los Angeles Community College District) -- a forty
percent dropoff from the first election in March. That election alone
cost taxpayers $5.5 million, over $40 per voter. Detailed information
about IRV is available at IRVinLA.org.
IRV has been endorsed by State Controller John Chiang, the Los Angeles
League of Women Voters, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor
(AFL-CIO), the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Richard Alatorre,
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, and
State Board of Equalization Chair Judy Chu. A full list of endorsers is
available at www.IRVinLA.org
Recently, IRV has been covered by the LA Times, California Progress Report, Channel 35 and NPR:
http://irvinla.org/latest_news/irv-profiled-top-political-blogs
http://irvinla.org/latest_news/irv-covered-l-cityview-channel-35
http://irvinla.org/latest_news/la-times-blog-supports-irv
http://irvinla.org/latest_news/socal-public-radio-spotlights-irv
Please contact Gautam Dutta of New America Foundation at 213.480.0994 for more information.
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