Appeals court upholds ranked-choice vote for S.F. [View All]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(05-20) 15:31 PDT SAN FRANCISCO --

San Francisco's ranked-choice voting system is constitutional, a federal appeals court panel ruled Friday in rejecting a challenge by a former candidate for supervisor.

Ron Dudum, a small-business owner who lost to now-disgraced former Supervisor Ed Jew in 2006, sued San Francisco election officials in federal court last year. He claimed that the city's system violates the Constitution by denying thousands of voters a voice in elections and allows candidates to win without getting a majority.

The lawsuit that Dudum and five other San Francisco residents filed in U.S. District Court asked a judge to halt the instant runoff system, put in place in 2004 to elect a mayor, supervisors, the district attorney and other officeholders.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said there was no evidence to suggest that the city's system "imposes any serious burdens on voters' constitutional rights by providing unequal opportunities to cast ballots." The ruling upheld a federal judge's decision.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/20/BASU1JJ070.DTL