Marin Ranked Voting - Marin

Call for election observers: Feb. 5 primary election

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:12:52 -0500

By Linda Bagneschi Dorrance

January 18, 2008--This message is going out to folks interested in election integrity issues in Marin County.

It's time to sign up to be election observers for the upcoming Feb. 5 primary election. Transparency and public observation are critical to ensure open and honest elections. Please let me know your availability to observe during any of the following times, even just a few hours or so. I can provide you with guidelines, if that helps. Note: The elections office is closed weekends, so no observers are needed on the weekends.

Debra Bowen to speak at election reform forum on September 15

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:38:05 -0400

Secretary of State Debra Bowen will be the keynote speaker at a public forum on election reform on Saturday, September 15, at 7:00pm at the College of Marin.

The forum is titled Bring Democracy Home: Election Reforms That Empower Voters.

Click here to see the display ad, and download publicity materials here.

Should Novato consider district elections?

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:35:17 -0400

September 7, 2007 -- The September 5 Novato Advance includes this article about a Novato resident who wants the city to switch from a council elected at large to one elected from districts.

District proponent Gary Scheppke argues that the current system results in too many council members from one part of town and too few from another part of town. He may well be right, but there's a much better solution to this problem.

Election Advisory Committee annual community meeting is June 21

Fri, 25 May 2007 19:40:55 -0400

May 25, 2007 -- Lowell Finley, Deputy Secretary of State for Voting Systems Certification and Policy, will speak at the first annual community meeting of the Marin County Election Advisory Committee on June 21. For details, see this calendar page.

Could a Citizens' Assembly fix this problem?

Fri, 18 May 2007 16:39:07 -0400

By Bob Richard

May 18, 2007 -- In his blog entry for May 14, Marin Independent Journal columnist Brad Breithaupt writes, "Voters -- not politicians -- should be writing the rules when it comes to regulating political campaigns. Instead of a voters-up approach, the county has chosen a supervisors-down strategy."

Brad Breithaupt on Marin Peace and Justice endorsement

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 22:03:16 -0500

From Brad Breithaupt's column in the Marin Independent Journal for November 4, 2006:

Cat Woods is a longshot to win Tuesday's race for Marin's seat in the state Assembly.


But the Green Party nominee won an endorsement from the Marin Peace and Justice Coalition, a progressive organization that boasts a mailing list of 1,500. 
Coalition members were evenly split between Woods, a Novato writer, and front-running Democrat Jared Huffman, whose liberal stands on many issues are aligned with many coalition members, said Jim Geraghty of San Rafael, one of the group's leaders. 
Woods won the endorsement because of her strong support for "ranked voting" election reform where voters, instead of casting their vote for one candidate, rank their choices.



All four State Assembly candidates endorse ranked voting
Sun, 10 Sep 2006 20:48:30 -0400
September 28, 2006 - Jared Huffman, Democratic Party candidate for State Assembly from the 6th district, met with Marin Ranked Voting activists on September 27 and endorsed our call to give all local jurisdictions the ability to use ranked voting in their elections.


Californians for Electoral Reform (CfER) annual meeting in Sausalito May 20
Wed, 19 Apr 2006 20:32:43 -0400
April 19, 2006
The Annual General Meeting of Californians for Electoral Reform (CfER) will take place in Sausalito on May 20.  Please see the event listing for details on time and location.
The keynote speaker will be Assemblymember Joe Canciamilla, co-author of ACA 28, the bill that would establish a California Citizens Assembly to consider changes to the way the legislature and statewide officers are elected.


Dick Spotswood: "Statistical nuances and other lessons of Nov. 8"
Thu, 15 Dec 2005 11:04:07 -0500
December 15, 2005
Dick Spotswood's column in the December 4 Marin Independent Journal column includes a number of interesting notes on the November 8 election.  Among them:
Voters are frugal with their votes. In multi-person city council and special purpose districts' races, each voter is allowed to cast as many ballots as there are seats up for grabs. Yet some people chose to cast a "single shot," voting for only one candidate in a multi-person race when they had the option of voting for two or more.



Dick Spotswood: "Democracy needs challengers to incumbents"
Wed, 14 Sep 2005 11:17:58 -0400
By Bob Richard
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Writing in the August 29 Marin Independent Journal, columnist Dick Spotswood notes that November's city council elections in three Marin cities are uncontested. Spotswood's commentary begins, "Noncompetitive municipal elections are a sad symptom of any community's poor civic health."