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Ranked Choice Voting 3 December 7, 2009 A robust outreach and education campaign would need to be conducted, to prepare San Leandro voters to use RCV, This campaign would be labor-intensive for a month or more prior to the November 2010 election, require significant staff resources, and cost approximately $20,000. This $20,000 for "voter education and outreach" is incorporated in the estimated $170,000 cost for RCV listed above, and would be used for printed informational materials-tri-fold brochures and a special mailer to voters. A flash media presentation, video clip, and television and radio public service announcements would be part of the RCV voter outreach and education campaign. The overall time savings from holding one RCV election rather than two traditional elections would be approximately 200 hours per election cycle. The staffing in the City Clerk's Office, which is responsible for conducting municipal elections, has been reduced from 3.5 FTEs in FY 2005-06, to 2.0 FTEs currently, and the staff time saved by using RCV could be devoted to other priority projects or mandates. Timeline The SOS administrative approval must be given before the RCV system can be used. Without this approval, the Council must call the June 2010 election no later than February 1, 2010, and preferably on January 19, 2010. ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION There is no requirement for San Leandro to use RCV. The voters of Berkeley and Oakland have passed Charter amendments, requiring that their cities use RCV when it is available. The Council may want to consider placing a measure on a future ballot, asking the voters whether or not they want to use RCV in future elections. San Leandro can only use RCV if both Berkeley and Oakland also participate; however, at this point, neither city has taken action to move forward with RCV. The Alameda County Registrar of Voters has been in steady contact with the SOS, and has communicated the urgent need for approval of the RCV system so that election plans can move forward. However, the County still does not have approval to use RCV. Current City Council Policy The City Charter was amended in 2000 to require that a successful candidate receive 50%+1 of the votes cast for that office, and to allow the use of an instant runoff voting system when such technology is available to the City. Previous City Council Action(s) A City Council work session on RCV was held on July 13, 2009. City Council Committee Review and Action The City Council Rules and Communications Committee reviewed the matter at its meeting on October 27, 2009, and recommended forwarding consideration of RCV to the full City Council for discussion and decision.