Choice Voting Blog

Great Davis City Council meeting on Tuesday night!

The City Council (Mayor Ruth Asmundson, Mayor Pro Tempore Sue Greenwald, Ted Puntillo, Steve Souza, and Don Saylor) voted unanimously to set in motion the process of putting choice voting and a city charter before the voters in June 2006. Ted Puntillo made the motion, combining similar motions made by Steve Souza and Don Saylor.

Here are a couple "choice" audio highlights from the meeting:

• Steve Souza on representation and choice voting (1 min)
• Don Saylor on voter participation and choice voting (2 min)

A video of the May 24 Council meeting is available from the city web site. For your convenience we also made the complete audio available below.

Many members of the public voiced support for choice voting at the meeting, including former mayors and Governance Task Force members Jerry Adler and Joan Poulos, Task Force Chair Michael Levy, former President of the Davis League of Women Voters Donna Lott, Green Party of Yolo County Secretary Wilson Shealy, ASUCD External Affairs Chair James Schwab on behalf of ASUCD, Robert Baron, Philip Neustrom, Sonny Mohammadzadeh, and Christopher Jerdonek.

The Davis Enterprise and Aggie covered the story:

• 5/26/05 - California Aggie Article

  "City nears Choice Voting decision"

• 5/25/05 - Davis Enterprise Article

  "Council gives tentative support to choice voting "

Also be sure to continue checking the Media Archive for other choice voting "media appearances."

And here is the meeting audio in mp3 format for your listening pleasure:

• Staff Report (Part 1 - 12 min)
• Council Questions (Part 2 - 30 min)
• *Public Comment (Part 3 - 20 min)
• Other Council Discussion (Part 4 - 22 min)
• *Council Choice Voting Discussion (Part 5 - 14 min)
• Other Council Discussion (Part 6 - 8 min)

Please thank the members of the City Council when you get a chance for their support for choice voting and for letting the citizens decide!

Here's an interesting 5-minute interview with Michael Sullivan, the mayor of Cambridge, MA, about choice voting:

• interview with mayor of Cambridge, MA (5 min)

Excerpt #1:

MAYOR SULLIVAN: "...now based upon having coming up with a computer program we can do it [count the ballots] unofficially the night of the election and officially the next day. And I think that's a significant aspect... I think this system has allowed for a greater breadth of representation."

Excerpt #2:

MAYOR SULLIVAN: "...there is a sort of grassroots group that's coming around saying that this is the best way to elect people to allow a greater breadth of voice."

INTERVIEWER: "Does it lead to political conflict or divisiveness?"

MAYOR SULLIVAN: "In fact just the opposite I would argue..."

The interview was conducted by The Early Edition's Rick Cluff of CBC News in British Columbia.

British Columbia (Canada) held an historic province-wide vote on choice voting last Tuesday! Citizens voted on a referendum of whether to use choice voting with multi-member districts to elect their provincial government.

57.4% of the 1.6 million voters voted "yes" for choice voting. Moreover, in 77 of the 79 "ridings," a majority of voters preferred choice voting. The referendum lost only narrowly because they officially needed 60%, but nevertheless the voters' message was clear!

Go here to see the BC-STV campaign web site.

Davis Citizens for Representation tabled at the Bike-to-Work event in Central Park at lunchtime on Wednesday. We handed out many bike stickers and let people know about choice voting, the voting system that the city of Davis is interested in. We got a very good reception!

We also got a chance to talk to Bruce Hartsough, Davis's new "Bike Advocate of the Year". Congratulations, Bruce!

Yesterday at noon, ASUCD hosted a panel discussion about using choice voting for city elections in Davis. The panelists were -- former Davis Governance Task Force member (and former mayor) Gerald Adler, Davis Citizens for Representation member Joseph Stewart, ASUCD Senator Kristen Birdsall, ASUCD Elections Committee Chair Jonathan Leathers, and ASUCD External Affairs Chair James Schwab.

Many interesting questions were answered, and many good points were raised. Thanks to ASUCD for doing their part to educate the community about this issue!

Our tabling was a big success at the Whole Earth Festival! Nearly 170 Davis residents signed half-sheets to each of the Davis City Council members, asking them to support choice voting and put it on the ballot!

The next big council meeting for choice voting is on May 24.

Davis Citizens for Representation is tabling at the Whole Earth Festival this weekend. Stop on by to help let people know about choice voting!

Also, our own choice voting stickers have just come in -- 1000 of them!