Redondo Beach Municipal Code Art. 4 Elections — Instant Runoff Voting

"Choice"

means an indication on a ballot of a voter's assigned ranking of candidates (i.e. first choice, second choice, third choice, etc.) for any single office according to the voter's preference.

"Continuing ballot"

shall mean a ballot that counts towards a continuing candidate.

"Continuing candidate"

shall mean a candidate that has not been eliminated.

"Exhausted ballot"

means any ballot that cannot be advanced because no further continuing candidates are ranked on that ballot for a single office.

"Majority of votes"

shall mean more than 50% of the votes cast on continuing ballots.

"Next ranked"

means the highest ranked choice for a continuing candidate.

"Overvote"

means any ballot with more than one candidate indicated for the same ranking for a single office.

"Ranked choice voting"

shall mean an election system in which voters rank the candidates for office in order of preference, and the ballots are counted in rounds that, in the case of a single-winner election, simulate a series of runoffs until one candidate receives a majority of votes. Also known as "instant runoff voting."

"Round of counting" or "round"

means a step in the counting process during which votes for all continuing candidates are tabulated for the purpose of determining whether a candidate has achieved a majority of the votes cast for a particular office, and, absent a majority, which candidate or candidates must be eliminated. No round of counting or elimination of candidates can occur before all eligible ballots are received by the City Clerk.

"Skipped ranking"

means a ballot contains a higher ranking with no candidate indicated and contains a lower ranking with a candidate indicated for a single office.

"Undervote"

means any ballot that has no candidates indicated at any ranking for a single office.

"Unofficial Election Night Report"

means an initial unofficial report regarding the results of ballots received by the City Clerk before election day. This does not constitute a round of counting and no candidates will be eliminated based on the report.

"Vote"

means a ballot choice that is counted toward the election of a candidate. During each round of counting, each continuing ballot contains one vote. All first choices are votes and lower ranked choices are potential runoff votes that may, in accordance with the requirements of this chapter, be credited to and become votes for a candidate.

"Voting equipment"

means all ballots and/or voting devices, vote tabulating systems and/or similar or related systems to be used in the conduct of the City's election, including, but not limited to, paper ballot systems, optical scan systems, and direct recording electronic systems.

(Ord. 3275-24 c.s., eff. October 17, 2024)

(a) Ranked choice voting elections in the elections of each City elective office listed in Article VI, Article VIII, and Article X shall be conducted according to the procedures in this section.

(b) Ranked choice voting shall commence with the 2025 General Municipal Election.

(Ord. 3275-24 c.s., eff. October 17, 2024)

(a) The ranked choice voting ballot shall allow voters to rank six choices.

(b) The ballot shall not interfere with a voter's ability to rank a write-in candidate.

(c) Instructions provided to voters shall conform substantially to the following specifications, but may be modified based on ballot design and voting equipment used:

"Vote by ranking candidates in your order of choice. You may rank as many or as few candidates as you choose. Select a different candidate for each ranking. Select only one candidate in each ranking. Ranking more candidates will not hurt your higher ranked candidates. Do not skip rankings. In the event you do skip a ranking, your vote will be given to your next continuing candidate."

(Ord. 3275-24 c.s., eff. October 17, 2024)

The ballots shall be counted in rounds.

(a) In the first round, every ballot shall count as a vote towards the first choice candidate.

(b) After any round, if any candidate receives a majority of votes from the continuing ballots, that candidate shall be declared the winner.

(c) If no candidate receives a majority, the candidate receiving the fewest number of votes shall be eliminated.

(d) Every ballot counting towards the eliminated candidate shall be advanced to the next-ranked continuing candidate. All the continuing ballots for all continuing candidates shall be counted again in a new round.

(Ord. 3275-24 c.s., eff. October 17, 2024)

In the event that two or more candidates tie for the fewest number of votes, the candidate to eliminate shall be chosen by lot.

If there are only two candidates in the final round and they are tied, the winner will be the candidate who received the higher number of votes in round one.

(Ord. 3275-24 c.s., eff. October 17, 2024)

In the first or any round, in the event that any ballot reaches a ranking with no candidate indicated, that ballot shall immediately be advanced to the next ranking.

(Ord. 3275-24 c.s., eff. October 17, 2024)

After each round, any ballot that is not continuing is either an undervote, overvote, or exhausted ballot. Any ballot that has been declared an undervote, overvote, or exhausted ballot shall remain so and shall not count towards any candidate in that round or in subsequent rounds.

(Ord. 3275-24 c.s., eff. October 17, 2024)

The following reports shall be produced for public review.

(a) The "summary report" for a contest shall mean a report that lists the candidate vote totals in each round, and the cumulative numbers of undervotes, overvotes, and exhausted ballots in each round.

(b) The "ballot cast report" for a contest shall mean a report that lists, for each ballot, the candidate or candidates indicated at each ranking and the ballot was cast by a vote-by-mail ballot. In the report, the ballots shall be listed in an order that does not permit the order in which they were cast in each precinct to be reconstructed.

(c) The "comprehensive report" for a contest shall mean a report that lists the vote totals in the summary report by precinct. The report shall list, for each round, the number of ballots cast in each precinct that:

(1) Were tallied as votes for each candidate in that round.

(2) Have been declared exhausted cumulatively for all previous rounds and inclusive of the reported round of tabulation.

(d) Mode and manner of release. Preliminary versions of the summary report and ballot image report shall be made available as soon as possible after the commencement of the canvass of votes cast. The summary report, ballot image report, comprehensive report, and preliminary versions of the summary report and ballot image report shall be made available to the public during the canvass via the Internet and by other means. The ballot image report and preliminary versions of the ballot image report shall be made available in a plain text electronic format. In any case, preliminary versions of these reports shall be made available to the public prior to the commencement of the manual tally.

(Ord. 3275-24 c.s., eff. October 17, 2024)

If a winner is declared when there are three or more continuing candidates (including the winner), and if the vote tabulating system allows for it, additional rounds of tallying shall occur until there are only two candidates left for reporting purposes only.

(Ord. 3275-24 c.s., eff. October 17, 2024)

(a) A preliminary version of the comprehensive report shall be made available to the public prior to the selection of precincts for the public one percent manual tally, as provided by state law.

(b) After each round of the manual tally, the second and third choice votes shall be assigned based on the candidate totals in the summary round-by-round report for the entire contest.

(Ord. 3275-24 c.s., eff. October 17, 2024)