San Diegans are just a few months away from another round of primary elections before voters return to the polls in November and while it might be a stretch to label San Diego residents as “voter weary,” they have certainly had more than the normal schedule of deciding our elected officials.
“We had a death, two convictions and a resignation all within about a two-year time frame,” said Councilwoman Donna Frye, noting the untimely death of City Councilman Charles Lewis, the jury convictions of City Council members Michael Zucchet and Ralph Inzunza, and the resignation of former Mayor Dick Murphy. “Those are things which might not happen over a ten year period or even a lifetime. That is what triggered all the elections.”
Coupled with the city pension fund matters and related financial issues, it’s not surprising the voting public might be a little tired and frustrated.
Frye, who was directly involved in some of those elections, decided this was the perfect moment to take a challenge and turn it into an opportunity. She came up with the idea of creating an “Elections Task Force” to help analyze how the entire election process could be more effective.
“Councilwoman Frye came up with the idea of a task force out of a discussion on instant run-off voting,” explained Kevin Smith, policy advisor and press secretary for Frye. “However, it was quickly decided instead of focusing on one issue, we could have a group of people working on many election issues.”
Upcoming City Council meetings are going to prioritize and streamline the issues it wants the task force to focus on. According to Smith, some of them include:
“¢ Mail-in only ballots
“¢ Clarifying the differences between city and county election rules
“¢ Instant run-off voting
“¢ Better voter outreach
“¢ Ballot tabulation
“¢ Special elections versus general elections and the rules that apply to each
Perhaps the most interesting issue, and the one that would likely create the most controversy, is instant run-off voting.
According to the current voting format, primary elections will be held in June and then a “final” election follows in November between the top two candidates if no one candidate received more than 50 percent of the primary votes. With instant run-off voting, if as an example there are eight candidates, voters would mark their first choice, second choice and so on for as many choices as they prefer. The winner can then be determined through a variety of tabulation options.
“Instant run-off voting saves time and money,” Smith said. “A recent mayor’s race in Vermont used instant run-off voting for the first time and my understanding is it went well.”
Liz Maland, San Diego’s City Clerk and chair of the task force, said regardless of the issues, there won’t be any changes for the upcoming June elections, although some possibility exists for the November elections.
“Some of the issues could be implemented relatively quickly via an ordinance which requires only the involvement of city government, while others require a change in the city charter which has to be put to a public vote,” Maland said. “We also have to decide for what type of elections are these changes intended.”
Maland is also quick to point out the task force has not been created as a knee jerk response to what happened with San Diego elections over the past few years.
“We don’t want to put something in place for these extreme situations but rather for the issues which come up over and over again,” she said. “I don’t want the changes to be reactive.”
Besides Maland, the remainder of the task force consists of an appointment by each city council member and representatives from the mayor and city attorney’s offices.
Frye said she is optimistic about the task force and what has ensued with her idea from its beginnings as part of a conversation.
“I am very excited about this issue,” she said. “The group is will be very diverse and interesting and their work is incredibly important.”
The first task force meeting is scheduled for Friday, April 21 at 1 p.m. at the City Administration Building, 202 C St, 12th floor.
For more information on the task force, visit www.sandiego.gov/electionstaskforce.