California ranked choice vote proposed in Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee

From Ballot Access News article, “California Bill to Let All Cities Use Ranked Choice Voting Has Hearing on Tuesday, April 19”:

The California Senate Elections & Constitutional Amendments Committee will hear SB 1288 on Tuesday, April 19. The bill, if enacted, would let any California city use ranked choice voting for its own elections. Currently, only charter cities may make that choice. The sponsors are Senators Mark Leno and Ben Allen. Allen is chair of the Senate Elections Committee.

According to FairVote:

Ranked choice voting (RCV) makes democracy more fair and functional. It works in a variety of contexts. It is a simple change that can have a big impact. With ranked choice voting, voters can rank as many candidates as they want in order of choice. Candidates do best when they attract a strong core of first-choice support while also reaching out for second and even third choices. When used as an “instant runoff” to elect a single candidate like a mayor or a governor, RCV helps elect a candidate that better reflects the support of a majority of voters. When used as a form of fair representation voting to elect more than one candidate like a city council, state legislature or even Congress, RCV helps to more fairly represent the full spectrum of voters.

Also, according to the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting:

Ranked choice voting has been used for over 120 years by hundreds of governments and private associations. Ranked choice voting was invented in New England in 1871. It was first used in an 1893 election. Ranked ballots are recommended by Roberts’ Rules of Order. Ranked choice voting has been used to elect the mayor of Portland since 2011. Ranked choice voting legislation has been introduced in the Maine Legislature since 2001 with growing support among Republican, Democratic and Independent lawmakers. In 2016, we’re bringing ranked choice voting back home to New England to make our elections and our government work better for the people of Maine.