Irvine’s Electoral Fork in the Road: Understanding Measure D
Measure D asks Irvine voters whether to adopt ranked-choice voting for mayor and City Council elections.
Photo credit Zachary Crespin
At the bottom of the ballot this November, Irvine voters will decide whether to change how they elect their mayor and City Council members. They can keep the current system, in which voters select one candidate per race and the candidate with the most votes wins, or switch to ranked-choice voting.
The difference could matter most in crowded races.
Under Irvine’s current system, a candidate does not need support from a majority of voters to win. In 2024, for example, Melinda Liu won the District 1 City Council race with 32.3% of the vote in a five-candidate field. William Go won District 2 with 30.9% in another five-candidate race.
Ranked-choice voting is designed, in part, to address that situation. Instead of choosing only one candidate, voters rank candidates in order of preference: first choice, second choice, third choice and so on. If a candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, that candidate wins. If no one does, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and voters who chose that candidate have their votes transferred to their next-ranked candidate. The process continues until one candidate has a majority of the ballots still active in the count.
Branda Lin is an Irvine resident and former mayoral candidate who helped organize the effort to put ranked-choice voting on the ballot. During a Zoom interview, she explained that ranked-choice voting gives voters more say in choosing the eventual winner and reducing what is sometimes called “vote splitting.”
Imagine, for example, that three candidates are running and two appeal to similar groups of voters. Under the current system, those two candidates could divide their supporters, allowing the third candidate to win with less than a majority.
With ranked-choice voting, a voter could rank one of the similar candidates first and the other second. If the voter’s first choice were eliminated, the ballot could still help elect the winner through the voter’s second choice.
That also means voters could support a candidate they genuinely prefer without having to make a calculation about whether that candidate is likely to win. In theory, a voter could rank a lesser-known candidate first and a more established candidate second rather than deciding between voting for a favorite and voting strategically. While critics argue that ranked-choice voting is too complicated for voters, Lin begs to differ.
“It's very simple,” Lin said. “First, second, third choice in order of preference and you're done.”
Lin said the idea of ranked-choice voting in Irvine had circulated in the community for years before she decided to try putting it on the ballot.
“I learned about it years ago, within my circle of activist friends,” Lin said. “We talk about it every year.”
Lin gathered supporters and contacted local political organizations before lobbying City Council members to put the proposal before voters.
“Ranked choice voting is a much better system than our current plurality system,” said Measure D volunteer, Orange County School of the Arts junior, and Irvine resident Xander Shah via email. “Normally, you only get one chance at picking your favorite candidate and if that candidate isn't a front runner, then your vote essentially gets wasted. It gives you a backup chance which frees you up to vote your conscience, not just what the party or strategy tells you to. Since a majority is required to win, it means that our representatives are actually preferred by the community.”
Supporters argue that ranked-choice voting can encourage candidates to appeal beyond their strongest supporters. Because second- and third-choice votes may ultimately decide the winner, more moderate candidates will potentially be more successful. The campaigning these candidates have to do may also be more positive and focus more on issues rather than on denigrating their opponents. Some research has found evidence that ranked-choice voting systems are associated with less negative campaigning. A 2016 study published in Electoral Studies, for example, found that voters in cities using ranked-choice voting were less likely to perceive campaigns as negative than voters in comparable cities using plurality elections.
Other research has examined whether ranked-choice voting affects participation.
A 2024 study published in Electoral Studies by Eveline Dowling, Caroline Tolbert, Nathan Micatka and Todd Donovan analyzed individual voter records in jurisdictions using ranked-choice voting and similar jurisdictions that did not. Researchers found significantly higher probabilities of turnout in places using ranked-choice voting. FairVote, a national organization that advocates for ranked-choice voting and has supported the Irvine effort, says the study found voters in RCV jurisdictions were 17% more likely to participate in municipal elections.
Lin pointed to turnout research when discussing her campaign to bring ranked-choice voting to Irvine.
“In a lot of cities that have implemented it, they've done research, and it actually increased the voter turnout,” she said.
Research on ranked-choice voting is not uniformly favorable. Other studies have found little or no turnout effect. Cost and voter education are also among the issues surrounding implementation.
Lin said Measure D includes a spending cap limiting the cost of implementing ranked-choice voting to less than one-quarter of 1% of the city budget. Costs could include voting-system software, longer ballots and voter education, she said.
“If Measure D passes, then the City of Irvine would need to then start educating the voters on how to use it, just like we did with district elections,” Lin said.
She said education could include sample ballots and community outreach.
“The majority voice will always be upheld,” Lin said. “It's a proven, simple upgrade that other cities and some countries and states have been using, and for years. And what's exciting is when they learn about it, it's a no-brainer.”
Learn more about Measure D here.