On November 5, residents of Oakland, California, overwhelmingly voted to remove far-left Democratic Mayor Shen Tao, who was elected in ranked-choice voting two years ago. She has since been accused of increasing crime and disorder in the city. this is beginning 61.6% of voters supported Thao's removal from office, while only 38.4% opposed, making it the first successful mayoral recall in Oakland history.
This recall was not simply an indictment of the failures of progressive governance. It was an indictment of ranked-choice voting (RCV).
Tao's victory in 2022 is collect. This new election system allows the candidate who receives the most second place (or third, fourth, etc.) votes to win, even if another candidate has more first place votes. By doing so, we create winners from losers. This is exactly how Mr. Tao received 677 votes. (Related: Trent England: Billionaire promotes ranked voting)
Her opponent, former Democratic Oakland City Councilwoman Lauren Taylor, received the most first-place votes but less than 50 percent support. first round. Thanks to that, Thao was able to win. 9th round. And while she had 50.3 percent of the remaining votes, that total was only 45.6 percent of the votes cast in the first round (11,787 “exhausted” votes were in the final round). (excluded before).
taylor criticized In his concession speech he spoke of the complex electoral process. “Ranked-choice voting is not working as it stands,” Taylor told reporters. He noted the high number of discarded ballots, which violates promises made by advocates when they persuaded the city to adopt RCV.
Since then, the quality of life for Aucklanders has declined dramatically. Reports of violent incidents increased by 21% last year compared to 2022, and robberies increased by 38%. Rather than actively targeting violent gang members, Mayor Tao focused on “ceasefires” and misleading crime statistics to take some heat for himself.
Mr. Tao's entire mayoralty may be due to the complexities of ranked-choice voting. The system of winning candidates by receiving the most second-place votes and disenfranchising voters by eliminating their ballots should be outlawed in state, local, and federal elections.
One of the last mayors elected before Oakland switched to RCV was former California Governor Jerry Brown, a critic of ranked voting. As governor, he exercised the right of veto A bill that would allow all cities in the Golden State to use RCV. And while Brown was mayor of Oakland, he reduced crime, increased the city's population, and expanded charter schools, a far cry from what Thao did.
Last June, Tao's home was raided by the FBI. Her failure led to a campaign called 'Auckland United Recall Tao', which gathered over 40,000 signatures to initiate a recall. The recall effort was backed by the Oakland Police Officers Association, former Democratic Mayor Libby Schaaf, prominent local business leaders and even Elon Musk.
Ranked voting is promoted as a way to elect popular moderate candidates. But before it was adopted, Oakland actually had a moderate and competent mayor. What RCV actually provided Oakland was the first unpopular mayor to be recalled in the city's history. There is talk that Oakland's next move is to eliminate ranked-choice voting. Otherwise, you may end up back where you started.
Harry Ross is the Director of Outreach. save our statewhere he manages Stop RCV Union.
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