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SM Election Reform Group Launches Website
Santa Monicans have
been talking about election reform for a decade. Now two newcomers — a
physicist and a science writer — are doing something about it.
Amy Connolly and Julie Walters founded Santa Monica Ranked Voting
earlier this year to build a constituency for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)
and Choice Voting and have just launchd a web site;
www.smrankedvoting.org.
According to Connolly, “IRV and Choice Voting increase voter choice
and give people a greater say in who wins elections, by empowering
voters to rank their first, second and third choices. If a voter’s
favorite candidate is not elected, their vote goes to their next
choice and so on, until it helps elect someone.
“Choice Voting is designed for multi-seat elections, like Santa
Monica’s, where several people are elected at a time. But, in contrast
to Santa Monica’s current system, Choice Voting makes it easy for
voters to rank their choices for all of the seats, without fear that a
vote for one of their lower choices would help defeat their favorite.
Choice Voting also helps render a more directly proportional result,
helping ensure that all aspects of our community are fairly
represented.”
“We hope that our website will be a meeting ground and a resource
where people in Santa Monica can learn about the benefits of IRV and
Choice Voting and learn how to get involved,” said Walters. “The
groundwork has been laid for implementation of IRV and Choice Voting
in our community. Santa Monicans have a unique opportunity to lead in
election reform on the national stage.”
In 1992, a Santa Monica Charter Review Commission recommended — by an
8-5-1 vote — Choice Voting for Santa Monica’s municipal elections, but
the recommendation was not adopted.
In 1999, prior to a special election, City Council members asked City
staff to explore IRV as an option for future special elections. Both
Mayor pro tem Kevin McKeown and Council member Michael Feinstein have
spoken in favor of IRV and Choice Voting.
In 2002, after conducting a study of voting systems, the Santa Monica
League of Women Voters indicated that it would support “consideration
of alternative voting systems in Santa Monica elections with a special
emphasis on … Choice Voting.”
Connolly began doing volunteer work for voting reform and IRV through
the Midwest Democracy Center following the 2000 elections. She moved
to Santa Monica from Chicago last September. A physicist, she is
working on a project at UCLA that uses Antarctic ice to search for
rare particles called neutrinos that reach earth after traveling
through our galaxy.
A resident of West Los Angeles since September, Walters is a science
writer/editor working with a research group in the engineering
department at UCLA.
Santa Monica Ranked Voting will hold its next meeting on April 6. The
time and place will be announced on its website. |
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