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OPEN LETTER –
Dear Commissioners and City Council members:
I have always loved Los Angeles, ever since I moved there in 1980. Fair representation in elections and government has always been very important to me. This is why I am writing to you.
I am a Political Science Professor at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, and have a Master's and Ph.D. in Political Science from UC Irvine. Although today, I am a resident of Pasadena, I lived in the Miracle Mile District of Los Angeles for 28 years. In 2001 I ran for LA City Council, finishing 5th/10 candidates in what was District 4 at that time.
My dissertation at UC Irvine was entitled “The Effect of Instant Runoff Voting on Democracy.” It confirmed what I had long suspected – that instant run-off voting - or what is now commonly called ranked choice voting (“RCV”) — is a much more democratic system, costs less and the campaigning is far less negative.
So, it should not surprise you that I am writing to recommend the use of ranked-choice voting to elect the LA City Council — combined with a substantially enlarged City Council — in the hope that the City Council would place such a charter amendment on the ballot as part of the City’s Charter Reform process.
I recommend electing an enlarged City Council from three-seat districts using proportional ranked-choice voting (“PRCV”) - the form of RCV for multi-seat elections. I advocate this because the zero-sum nature of LA’s system is unhealthy and undemocratic.
The ugly Federation Tapes scandal showed what some people are willing to do and say behind the scenes to gain power in LA, because the stakes of its zero-sum elections are so high. Unfortunately, independent redistricting doesn’t solve this zero-sum dynamic. It just makes limited representation seem less unfair.
The answer is to expand representation - especially in a multi-diverse city like Los Angeles. That’s why going to multi-seat PRCV districts is the right response to the Federation Tapes scandal, and to the overall lack of trust and confidence in local government that so many feel.
Is ranked choice voting complicated? Would voters embrace such a system?
My American Government students at Pierce College, most of whom are 18-24, react positively to RCV. It is part of my curriculum, and they find it very easy to understand. Even my 14-year-old understood it when he was 9 years old. The only confusion is with the system we have now because of the vote-splitting dynamic in the primary.
In my 2001 City Council race, people told me there weren’t sure whether to vote for me in the primary or someone else who may have a better chance at advancing to the November run-off (the “spoiler effect”). RCV solves this. In a race with ranked-choice voting, voters don’t have to face that dynamic, because if their first choice doesn’t win, their vote automatically counts for their next choice and so on. This empowers voters to vote freely, ranking their preferences over as many candidates as they would like.
Because using PRCV in multi-seat districts leads to proportional representation results, more people in PRCV elections also cast votes that go towards electing someone who represents their views. In Portland, Oregon’s recent PRCV City Council elections, 87% of voters cast a vote for at least one of the three winners in their district. By comparison in LA’s single-winner system, often 30-49% make up a political minority in a district, who may never be able to vote for a winning candidate.
Voters have already shown they are willing to expand the County Board of Supervisors in order to gain greater representation. It’s time for the City of Los Angeles to do the same. Please propose expanding the number of council seats in combination with electing city council members from multi-seat districts by proportional ranked choice voting.
If LA voters are offered more choice and better representation in this way than I believe they would take it. They at least deserve the opportunity to make that choice.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Denise Robb, Ph.D.
(Denise Robb, Ph.D., is a Professor of Political Science at Pierce College. She specializes in American government, public policy, and civic engagement.)
