The San Diego City Council unanimously approved creating a citizens task force to look at ways to make it easier to vote in the city. The 10-member panel will investigate the use of IRV, among other reforms. The task force comes after a divisive mayor's race in 2004 when a write-in candidate split the electorate and gave the city a winner with only 35% of the vote.

In contrast, San Francisco has had positive elections of late, effectively using IRV to elect its Board of Supervisors. A recent study by FairVote pointed to a near tripling of voter turnout under the new, highly-preferred election system, over projections based on the previous runoff system.

[ Read about it in the San Diego Union Tribune ]
[ Study on Voter Turnout in San Francisco ]