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CITY OF SAN LEANDRO <br />MEMORANDUM <br />Date: January 3, 2008 <br />To: City Council Rules and Communications Committee <br />From: Marian Handa, City Clerk <br />Subject: JANUARY 2008 UPDATE ON THE STATUS OF INSTANT RUNOFF <br />VOTING (IRV) <br />SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION <br />This report provides the Committee with an update on the status of the IRV system. The <br />Committee will recommend to the City Council whether to proceed with the June 2008 General <br />Municipal Election or to change the election date to November 2008 and utilize IRV, if <br />available. <br />Staff recommends that the Committee discuss the pros and cons of holding both a June general <br />election and November runoff election vs. moving the general election date to November on the <br />chance that IRV will be available for use by then. The Committee can then forward a <br />recommendation to the City Council to either 1) call the June election on January 22 or February <br />4; or 2) change the date of the City's general election to November 4 in the hope that the <br />Alameda County Registrar of Voters (ROV) will be able to conduct an IRV election for the City. <br />BACKGROUND <br />Instant Runoff Voting is a voting method which allows voters to rank candidates in order of <br />preference, eliminating the need for a separate runoff election. The Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) <br />system, developed by Sequoia Voting Systems (Sequoia) for Alameda County, was submitted in <br />late August 2007 for federal testing. Once the system achieves federal certification, it must then <br />be submitted to California's Secretary of State for separate testing and certification. It is <br />unknown how long the State certification process will take. <br />ANALYSIS <br />Currently, the City of San Leandro's General Municipal Election is held in June of even- <br />numbered years, with any ensuing runoff election held in November of that same year. <br />