Resources for Campaigns

	Californians for Electoral Reform	PO Box 128, Sacramento, CA 95812 916-455-8021

Resources for election reform campaigns

CFER has been involved in several electoral reform campaigns in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Measure I: the successful 2004 ballot measure enabling IRV use in Berkeley
Proposition A: the successful 2002 ballot measure campaign to enact IRV in San Francisco
Measure F: the successful 1998 ballot measure campaign to enable IRV use in Santa Clara County
Measure H: the unsuccessful 1996 ballot measure campaign to use PR in San Francisco
More general measures containing language enabling IRV use have been passed in Oakland (for city council vacancies) and San Leandro (for city council and mayor). See the Oakland Preference Voting website to learn more and help.

Here is some info from the Prop A campaign: Prospectus (word) - Timeline (word) - Calendar (excel) - Money (excel) - Ballot arguments

Local implementation of electoral reform requires:

Compatible voting equipment - touchscreen systems and the Global Accu-Vote scanned paper ballot system are the only systems used in California that are readily compatible with ranked ballots. Check here to see what kind of voting equipment your county uses. If your county does not have compatible voting equipment, please campaign for an upgrade by contacting your county supervisors, your county election officials, and your local newspaper. Here is a sample letter that you can borrow from, and documents from Santa Clara County's equipment upgrade that your county can use as an example.
CfER recommends the use of voter-verified audit trails with touchscreens.
Enabling language in the county or city charter. Check here to see whether your county and city are chartered. If your county or city does not have a charter, it is forbidden by state law from implementing election reform; see our legislation page to help change that.
Local support for modern election methods. We need to spread the word!
Eternal vigilance - the campaign doesn't end with a victory at the ballot box. Fuller representation regimes are always vulnerable to power grabs, as well as mistrust caused by lack of experience. Awareness and appreciation must be maintained in a community. CfER members at UC Davis helped implement Choice Voting there. Their report two elections later reflects efforts to do this and demonstrates the challenges that emerge.

K. D. Weinert of Venice successfully campaigned for use of IRV and Cumulative Voting by the Grassroots Venice Neighborhood Council (an advisory group for local government). Be sure to read his well-written report.

A CFER member has convinced Stanford's student government (ASSU) to use IRV for the selection of its president and vice president. Here is the story behind that. Before a public campaign is attempted, it's important to lay the foundations by spreading the word about election reform and making sure that key constituencies understand and support it. Even if a campaign for election reform in your community is far off, we encourage you to read through these materials to get an understanding of what it takes to run a campaign.

Introduction to campaigning (Microsoft Word format)

These sources can help you plan a campaign. (Microsoft Word format)

Should we run a high- or low- profile campaign? (Microsoft Word format)

About high-profile campaigns (Microsoft Word format)

About low-profile campaigns (Microsoft Word format)

Myths about campaigns (Microsoft Word format)

Sample charter amendment (Microsoft Word format)

How to gather petition signatures

Endorsement planning form (Microsoft Word format)

Campaign info in a ZIP file