8A Consent 2009 1221 - Laserfiche WebLink

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DRAFT MINUTES Page 10 December 7, 2009 City of San Leandro City Council and San Leandro Redevelopment Agency Joint Meeting City Clerk Marian Handa gave a PowerPoint presentation, providing an update on the information that formed the basis for the staff recommendation not to pursue RCV for 2010. Since the publication of the staff report and recommendation, the Secretary of State (SOS) issued approval of the use of RCV for Alameda County on December 4, 2009, and the City of Oakland has scheduled approval in January 2010 of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the County for the use of RCV. The presentation included a demonstration of how RCV works, and how the results of an RCV election are tabulated. Ms. Handa called attention to the majority failure issue: ballots, rather than the original ballots cast. Ms. Handa reported that the cost of using RCV for 2010 would be about $45,000 higher than the current two-election process, but the City would begin to realize savings of approximately $33,000 per election cycle thereafter. Dave Macdonald, Alameda County Registrar of Voters (ROV), reported on the status of the cost-sharing MOU, noting that it is close to being finalized, and that the City of Oakland has scheduled adoption of the MOU on January 5. In response to a question from Councilmember Reed, Mr. Macdonald indicated that while Oakland would need to cancel its June 2010 nominating election in order to use RCV, the City of Berkeley does not have a June 2010 election, and so does not have the same urgency. Mr. Macdonald and Ms. Handa responded to questions from the Council. Councilmember Souza expressed concerns that, due to the accumulation of exhausted ballots, the candidate with the most votes may still not have a majority of the votes cast Councilmember Stephens agreed with Councilmember Souza, noting that in a race with many candidates, it would be possible for him to cast a ballot on which none of the candidates he chose made it to the top two. In a separate runoff election, he would have the opportunity to vote for one of the top two candidates. Mayor Santos commented that in 2000, he was a homeowners association representative and a co-sponsor of Measure F. He recalled that the intent was to implement RCV when it became available. Mayor Santos added that there have been discussions regarding deferring a portion of the 2010 RCV implementation costs. Mr. Macdonald pointed out that the City would not realize any savings from RCV if it chose to hold a June election for a ballot measure. He addressed the issues of deferring RCV costs and the proposed education and outreach to voters. Councilmember Prola pointed out that majority failure can also happen in non-RCV elections. Mr. Macdonald agreed, giving an example of a close two-candidate race with many write-in votes.