By Gautam Dutta

October 24, 2008--We have some goods news -- and need your immediate help.

This week, the Instant Runoff Voting motion cleared the Rules Committee of the Los Angeles City Council. We sincerely thank everyone who came out to support IRV. The motion will now go to the full Council on Wednesday morning, October 29.

This vote will be very close, so we need you to do two more things for IRV right away:

1. Bring as many people as possible to the LA City Hall hearing on Wednesday, October 29th at 10:00am. We need the City Council to show leadership – and put IRV on the March 2009 ballot. The more of us that show up, the better the chances that the Council will approve the IRV motion.

2. Call and write Council Members Hahn and Wesson to urge them to vote for the IRV motion. We have provided a sample letter below. The council members can be reached at 213-473-7015 (Chief of Staff to CM Hahn: Courtney.Chesla@lacity.org) and at 213-473-7010 (Chief of Staff to CM Wesson: Charmette.Bonpua@lacity.org).

Please feel free to contact us at 213-480-0994 if we may be of any assistance. You can also visit our website at www.IRVinLA.org. See you Wednesday!

Sample Letter

Dear Council Member,

Recently, Council Members Rosendahl, Huizar, and Reyes introduced a critical motion to adopt Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) for Los Angeles municipal elections. Once IRV is fully implemented, it will save Los Angeles taxpayers $8 to $9 million per election cycle.

I am writing to express my strong support for adopting IRV for all elections involving the City of Los Angeles, LA Community College District, and LA Unified School District.

Please approve this motion. IRV will bring valuable reform to our political system -- and your leadership is needed to make this happen. It’s time for voters to decide if IRV is right for Los Angeles.

Sincerely,

_____________________

Gautam Dutta is Deputy Director of the Political Reform Program at the New America Foundation.

Last revised October 24, 2008