California Senate Committee Passes IRV Bills

On July 10, both AB 1294 and AB 1662 passed the California Senate Committee on Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments. Prior to the passage of AB 1294, only charter counties or cities could use ranked voting methods, leaving over three-fourths of cities and counties without such options. AB 1294 added to the California Election Code by outlining procedures for conducting ranked voting elections.

AB 1662 allows overseas military personnel to use ranked ballots when voting in local elections if a runoff election is to occur within 90 days of the original election. AB 1662, by providing a separate ballot to rank all candidates, protects against the disenfranchisement of military members overseas due to the limited time between primary and general elections.