A bill allowing local cities in California instant runoff voting will be discussed in state assembly

From Ballot Access News:

On August 3, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1288. The bill allows all California cities and counties, not just charter cities and counties, to use instant-runoff for their own elections if they wish. The bill now goes to the Assembly floor.

According to Bill Gram-Reefer from WorldView PR:

SB 1288 enables cities and counties to help make all votes count by allowing those jurisdictions to reform their respective voting systems from plurality voting to preference- or ranked-choice voting. By selecting candidates by preference 1,2,3 voters’ preferences pass on to their second preference if their first choice is eliminated. Such voting systems produce true majority winners and better reflect the policy wishes of the electorate.

Under current law, general law cities must use first-past-the-post voting, where the candidate with the most votes wins even if far short of a majority. SB 1288 encourages majority rule by enabling general law cities and districts to use ranked choice voting or the traditional runoff.