Will Sacramento become the next Oakland?

A coalition called Better Ballot Sacramento, which includes far-left groups like the League of Women Voters and union Local 1021 SEIU (a local chapter of the union pushing the California wealth tax ballot proposal), is collecting signatures to place ranked-choice voting on the city’s upcoming November ballot. Organizers aim to gather about 67,000 signatures by June 1 to ensure they meet the requirement of roughly 43,000 valid signatures needed to qualify.

Currently in California, RCV is used in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro, Albany, Redondo Beach, and Ojai. The first four cities listed have used the system for well over a decade and are also the most dysfunctional cities on the list, with Oakland leading the pack in homelessness and violent crime, while more recent adopters like Albany, Redondo Beach, and Ojai have so far avoided major crises.

By California standards, Sacramento is considered one of the safer big cities in the state with a more moderate local government. But if the city adopts ranked-choice voting for municipal elections, you could see that change.

Former Governor Jerry Brown served as the Mayor of Oakland from 1999 to 2007 and was widely considered a pro-business, tough-on-crime moderate who improved the quality of life for the city’s residents. It’s hard to imagine someone like Jerry Brown getting elected now. Since implementing RCV back in 2010, every mayor elected under the system has been a soft-on-crime, left-wing progressive.

In 2022, former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao eked out a win over moderate Loren Taylor in the 9th round of RCV after receiving the most second-place votes. Her short mayorship was marred by a rise in violent crime and alleged corruption that resulted in her home being raided by the FBI. Her term ended with her being recalled in 2024—the first successful recall in Oakland’s history.

There have been attempts in the past to expand the use of RCV beyond charter cities. Bills that would have allowed any municipality and school district to implement ranked-choice voting passed the California State Legislature in 2016 and 2019 but were vetoed each time, first by former Gov. Jerry Brown, then by current Gov. Gavin Newsom.

RCV has a long history of failure in California, often pushing politics further to the left and complicating the process for both voters and election workers. It makes it easier for fringe candidates to win by gaming the system rather than building a broad mandate. If Better Ballot Sacramento succeeds in collecting enough signatures to get RCV on the ballot, it will be up to voters to save their city from the scourge of ranked-choice voting.