WHO: Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach), Chairwoman of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee

WHAT: An informational hearing by the Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee entitled “Instant Runoff and Ranked Choice Elections: Will They Lead To A Better Democracy?”

WHEN: Tuesday, October 25, 2005, at 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: Auditorium of the Elihu M. Harris State Office Building, 1515 Clay Street, Oakland

WHY: “We’ve used the plurality system to elect people for more than 200 years, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a better way to build the mousetrap,” said Bowen, the author of SB 596 which would allow any city or county to adopt an instant runoff or ranked choice voting system for their local elections. “Preference voting encourages candidates to really try and appeal to a wider audience and it could re-energize voters, because even if their first choice isn’t elected, they’ll still have the opportunity to help elect their second or third choice.

“It takes democracy to a whole new level and given San Francisco’s experience, where 87% of the voters said they understood the system and 61% preferred it to the traditional runoff system, it’s definitely something we should explore.”

Witnesses for the hearing will include:

* Hector Preciado, The Greenlining Institute
* Theis Finlev, California Common Cause
* Goro Mitchell, Community Development Institute

* John Arntz, Director of Elections, City and County of San Francisco
* Elaine Ginnold, Registrar of Voters, Alameda County

* The Honorable Pat Kernighan, Oakland City Council
* The Honorable Kriss Worthington, Vice Mayor, City of Berkeley

* Steve Chessin, Californians for Electoral Reform
* David Holtzman, Los Angeles Voters for Instant Runoff Elections
* Christopher Jerdonek, The Center for Voting & Democracy

There will be time for public comment at the end of the hearing.

Contact: Evan Goldberg (916) 651-4028