Reports of our past meetings, as emailed to our contact list. You can also get to these documents by scrolling backwards in time on the calendar page.
By Bob Richard
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
The November 30 meeting was attended by six members. We heard reports
on the following:
*** Conversations with Marin Registrar of Voters Michael Smith on
November 17 and 21 were very productive. He did dwell on a variety of
other election issues that complicate the lives of registrars and
compete with IRV for attention and resources. He also talked about IRV
in terms of administrative complexity. But he (1) offered to consider a
Board of Supervisors resolution that contains language intended to meet
the objections of the California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials (he is a board member of CACEO); (2) offered to help start
conversations between CfER activists and other registrars who have
objections to ranked voting; (3) offered to have us review equipment
RFPs before they go out to prospective vendors; (4) seemed willing to
participate in brainstorming ways to make implementation and
administration easier for election officials; and (5) said he thinks IRV
is a good concept. He noted that the registrar in San Francisco, John
Arntz, is now saying that IRV is "quite do-able" once the initial
implementation is over.
*** A member of the Marin Democratic Central Committee (MDCC) has
expressed interest in having MaRV give a presentation to the MDCC.
*** At a meeting on November 17 with two leaders of the League of Women
Voters of Marin County, Anne Layzer and Perry Newman, we learned that we
will be able to make a presentation to their membership, and might also
be able to get something published in their monthly newsletter.
Endorsement of our statement supporting local option is a live
possibility.
*** After a representative of the Marin County Libertarian Party
attended our November 15 meeting, we are scheduled to make a
presentation to their quarterly meeting on January 10.
We also discussed the following.
*** Status of efforts to contact several members of the Board of
Supervisors.
*** Approaches and material for use in meetings with members of the
board of supervisors, including a meeting on December 2 with Susan
Adams. (The meeting was very productive.)
*** Holding a public forum in which office holders, especially the
supervisors and registrar, would be invited to speak (both pro and con).
*** Organzing a mock IRV election in high schools in parallel with the
mock election sponsored by the Marin County Youth Commission and the
Youth Leadership Institute of San Rafael.
By Bob Richard
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
The November 15 meeting was attended by five members and an observer
from the Marin County Libertarian Party. Most of the meeting was
devoted to two detailed discussions:
*** Whether to continue our existing strategy of trying for a Board of
Supervisors resolution on SB 596 before January. We discussed getting
endorsements, and the importance of having endorsements in hand when
approaching office holders. This was contrasted with the strategy this
fall (approaching the Board of Supervisors first instead of focusing on
documenting support in the community), which was dictated by the
timeline of SB 596. We decided to continue trying to get appointments
with members of the Board of Supervisors at the earliest possible date,
and to continue pushing both for SB 596 (in case it stays alive in
January) and for general language supporting future legislation.
*** Preparation for our November 17 meeting with Registrar of Voters
Michael Smith. One of his pressing issues is manual counting of
ballots. A quick example was constructed. We agreed to prepare a
slightly larger set of sample ballots and a computer dataset for a
demonstration of the manual tally, with matching computer results from
pSTV software.
Michael made a presentation to a Democrats for America (DFA) meeting on
November 1, in which he covered the nuts and bolts of election
administration, mentioned that there is now a group in Marin promoting
IRV, asked if anyone present was involved in it, and said that Marin
should be considering IRV in "a year or two from now".
By Bob Richard
Sunday, November 6, 2005
Our fourth monthly meeting on October 26 was attended by five members. Here is my (completely unofficial) understanding of what we accomplished.
We reviewed, revised and approved a letter to Senator Debra bowen endorsing SB 596. The letter (see attachment below) was mailed on October 28.
We also reviewed and revised a draft resolution endorsing SB 596 that could be used as a model by county Boards of Supervisors and city councils.
In the course of an open discussion of where we are and where we are going, we also touched on the following agenda items:
*** Senate Elections Committee informational hearing on ranked voting on October 25. Three members attended the hearing in Oakland, and one addressed the panel.
*** Contacts with members of the Board of Supervisors and their staff.
*** Educational presentations to local civic and political organizations. We worked on plans to co-sponsor an event with the Ruth Group.
*** Speaker training workshop provided by CfER. See this announcement.
*** Training/practice/role playing sessions. We agreed that we need to schedule some practice sessions of our own, regardless of when and whether the CfER training happens.
*** Email lists (listservs) for news and discussion. One person favors Yahoo Groups, two favor vehicles other than Yahoo, and one doesn't want any discussion list at all. A decision on having an email list for discussion was deferred.
An email list for news and announcements was created after the meeting, and you are on it. To subscribe, contact us and check the box for meeting reports and announcements. For more information in the list, visit the membership page.
Potential agenda items that were *not* touched on during the meeting included:
*** Literature and website pages with local content.
*** Marin's Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo), which has used IRV to fill two of the seven seats since 2001.
*** Promoting ranked voting for College of Marin (COM) and Dominican University student government elections.
*** Contacts with office holders and candidates who are known IRV supporters, to start a process of getting their input on strategy and tactics.
*** Branding (logo, artwork, letterhead).
*** Marin County Youth Commission and Youth Vote program in schools.
*** FairVote program to get election officials to observe ranked voting elections in San Francisco, November 5-9.
Bob Richard is Marin County Coordinator for Californians for Electoral Reform.
By Bob Richard
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
Our third monthly meeting on Wednesday, September 28 was attended by six ranked voting activists. Here is my (completely unofficial) understanding of what we accomplished.
(1) Our next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, October 26 at 7:00 pm, at College of Marin, Student Services Building (same place as before). Please publicize this meeting to everyone you know who is interested in ranked voting.
(2) We reviewed the following action items from previous meetings.
*** Conduct an IRV election to choose a name for ourselves. The winning name, announced on September 8, is Marin Ranked Voting. We still haven't decided whether to abbreviate it MRV or MaRV.
*** Schedule speaker training workshop provided by CfER. Members present listed possible dates during October. Two absent members who had previously expressed interested in the workshop will be contacted for possible dates before getting back to CfER.
*** Four members will call aides to four of the five supervisors, as their constitutents, to ask about their positions on IRV. One supervisor expressed support for IRV, two have not responded yet, and one was not contacted.
*** Develop literature with local content immediately. This will include information on charter vs. general law status and implications for adopting ranked voting. A proposed trifold brochure was discussed at length. A two-person subcommittee was authorized to complete revisions. No action yet on the more detailed piece on charters, SB 596, etc.
*** Find out whether FairVote has updated its old leaflets, and also find out whether FairVote or CfER leaflets can be printed with blank space where the organization's name goes, so we can customize them with our own name or logo. Message delivered to FairVote (who are receptive), but not yet delivered to CfER.
*** Table at a Bob Fitrakis/Steven Rosenfeld presentation on Ohio 2004 on September 14. We will suggest, through CfER channels, that ranked voting activists in Davis and Oakland do the same. The tabling went well; I spoke briefly on the need for election officials to include ranked voting capability in future purchases.
*** Contact office holders and candidates who are known IRV supporters, to start a process of getting their input on strategy and tactics. One person contacted expessed in interest in learning more, and a meeting is scheduled. No action on two others.
(3) We discussed these new topics.
*** Getting endorsements. We need to build and publish a list of endorsers, and need a statement we are asking folks to endorse. We agreed that it should state the objectives of SB 596 without naming the bill itself. A draft will be circulated for comment.
*** Marin's Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) has used IRV to fill two of the seven seats since 2001. We will produce literature and a page on our website on this. FairVote is interested in publicising it on their website.
*** New project in Californians for Electoral Reform (CfER) to document what would be involved in running a statewide initiative campaign, either for a Citizens' Assembly based on the British Columbia model, or for a specific full representation plan.
(4) We did *not* review these previous action items.
*** Meet with office holders who are already known to be IRV supporter, to get their thoughts on strategy and tactics.
*** Begin promoting ranked voting for College of Marin (COM) student government elections.
*** Schedule educational presentation to Marin chapter of Democrats for America (DFA).
*** Work with county registrar Michael Smith to establish citizen's advisory committee on election administration. (And then get ourselves represented on it.)
*** Make contact with SEIU's Political Action Committee about their participation, and/or about making a presentation to their membership.
(5) We did *not* discuss the following new topics.
*** Branding (logo, artwork, letterhead).
*** Proposed website.
*** Our own endorsement of SB 596; text of letter to Sen. Bowen.
*** Email lists (listservs) for news and discussion.
*** Marin County Youth Commission and Youth Vote program in schools.
*** Prop. 77.
(6) I said last month that CfER was working on a statement on Prop. 77. You can read it here.
Bob Richard is Marin County Coordinator for Californians for Electoral Reform.
By Bob Richard
Friday, August 26, 2005
Our second meeting on ranked voting in Marin on Wednesday, August 24, was attended by five local activists. Here are my notes.
(1) Our next meeting is Wednesday, September 28, 7:00 pm, at College of Marin, Student Services Building (same place as before). Please publicize this meeting to everyone you know who is interested in ranked voting.
(2) Here is my (completely unofficial) understanding of what we accomplished.
(2a) We agreed by consensus that we need to name ourselves, and decided to have an IRV election to choose the name. The result will be announced on September 8. We will operate by majority rule (i.e. no super-majorities). We will not have officers unless and until money matters require that we have a treasurer.
(2b) We reviewed most of the action items from the July 26 meeting.
*** Schedule speaker training workshop provided by Californians for Electoral Reform (CfER). At least five--and maybe six or seven--people want to attend the workshop.
*** Begin promoting ranked voting for College of Marin (COM) student government elections. Two members are active on this. It's at least a semester-long project. Contact made with Associated Students of UC Davis (ASUCD) and Davis campus Greens. Contacts beginning to be made at COM. Also looking for contacts at Dominican.
*** Meet with with office holders who are already known to support IRV, to get their thoughts on strategy and tactics. No action so far.
*** Schedule educational presentation to Marin chapter of Democrats for America (DFA). We are still trying for their September 6 Meetup.
*** Work with county registrar Michael Smith to establish citizen's advisory committee on election administration (and then get ourselves represented on it). No action so far. This is not a short-range project. A written proposal is needed. We will work on a letter to the registrar re-introducing the idea.
(2c) We agreed to start working on the following right away.
*** We will start developing literature with local content immediately. This will include information on charter vs. general law status and implications for adopting ranked voting.
*** We will find out whether FairVote has updated its old leaflets, and also find out whether FairVote or CfER leaflets can be printed with blank space where the organization's name goes, so we can customize them with our own name or logo.
*** We will table at a Bob Fitrakis/Steven Rosenfeld presentation on Ohio 2004 on September 14. We will suggest, through CfER channels, that ranked voting activists in Davis and Oakland do the same. As of a press release dated August 26, the location of the September 14 event is not firm, but might be Santa Rosa.
*** We will contact office holders and candidates who are known IRV supporters, to start a process of getting their input on strategy and tactics.
*** Four members will call aides to four of the five supervisors, as their constituents, to ask about their positions on IRV.
*** We will make contact with SEIU's Political Action Committee about their participation, and/or about making a presentation to their membership.
(2d) We discussed a lot of other possible activities. Here is a partial list.
*** Contact potentially interested organizations about participation in our campaign. These include (especially) the Libertarians, Democrats For America, Progressive Democrats of America, League of Women Voters (LWV).
*** Table, or participate in workshops, at the Progressive Festival, September 25 in Petaluma. NOTE: the Sonoma County GP-ERWG is also thinking about this.
*** Make educational presentations to county-level Republican Party organizations.
*** Educational campaign around 6th Assembly District Democratic primary next year (discussion continued from previous meeting). This could included cohosting a candidate forum with the LWV, and/or getting questions about ranked voting on candidate questionnaires, tabling at other candidate forums, op-ed articles, etc.
*** Educational event (maybe a houseparty) specifically for elected officials. Try to get LWV to cosponsor this.
*** Educational events for the general public. Several small events in various parts of the county, including West Marin, instead of one big one.
(3) Food for thought:
(3a) What are your views on Prop. 77? It provides a great opportunity to talk about multi-member districts and ranked voting. CfER will have a position paper illustrating this soon, which I will send to everyone.
(3b) On voting machines:
www.fairvote.org/machines/FairVote_Machines.pdf
On getting involved in local communities:
www.fairvote.org/flexibility/?page=185
www.fairvote.org/flexibility/?page=889
(3c) Everyone interested in ranked voting should join this email discussion group:
You will be asked to describe yourself to the moderator--please mention that I referred you so the moderator will not suspect you are a potential spammer. If you want news and announcements only (no discussion), then join this group instead:
California IRV Coalition - News List
Bob Richard is Marin County Coordinator for Californians for Electoral Reform
By Bob Richard
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Our first meeting on ranked voting in Marin on Tuesday, July 26 was attended by eight local activists and two guests from Californians for Electoral Reform, founder Jim Lindsay and Sonoma County coordinator Edward Mendoza.
Here are my notes.
(1) We will meet again on Wednesday, August 24 at 6:30 pm, at College of Marin, Student Services Building (same as last night), hosted by the College of Marin Campus Greens. Please publicize this meeting to everyone you know who is interested in ranked voting.
(2) Here is my (completely unofficial) understanding of what we accomplished.
(2a) We agreed to start working on the following right away.
*** Begin promoting ranked voting for College of Marin student government elections.
*** Schedule speaker training workshop provided by Californians for Electoral Reform (CfER).
*** Meet with office holders already known to support IRV to get their thoughts on local strategy.
*** Schedule educational presentation to Marin chapter of Democrats for America (DFA).
*** Work with county registrar Michael Smith to establish a citizen's advisory committee on election administration (and then get ourselves represented on it).
*** Contact interested organizations about representation at our August 24 meeting.
(2b) We discussed a lot of other possible activities. Here is a partial list (I doubt that my notes include everything).
*** Seek endorsements of SB 596 from the Board of Supervisors, city councils, individual office holders, Joe Nation, Carole Migden.
*** Make educational presentations to local organizations. For example: Marin Grassroots Leadership Network, Marin Peace and Justice Coalition, Social Justice Center of Marin.
*** Make educational presentations to local affiliates of statewide organizations. For example: Common Cause (endorses SB 596), CalPIRG (endorses SB 596), League of Women Voters (endorses SB 596), National Organization of Women, etc.
*** Promote ranked voting for Dominican University student government elections.
*** Plan educational campaign around the 6th assembly district Democratic primary next year.
*** Make educational presentations to high school/college classes.
(3) Everyone interested in ranked voting should join this email discussion group:
California Instant Runoff Coalition
You will be asked to describe yourself to the moderator--please mention that I referred you so the moderator will not suspect you are a potential spammer.
If you haven't done so before, please check out these sites:
CfER's new and improved website (www.cfer.org) will be launched in a few weeks.
Bob Richard is Marin County Coordinator for Californians for Electoral Reform.