View the San Francisco for Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Enacted by voters in San Francisco in 2002, ranked-choice voting has once again taken a central role in San Francisco politics as five prominent candidates vie to be The City’s next mayor in the November election.
Each San Francisco voter is allowed to rank up to 10 mayoral candidates in order of preference. If their top candidate is eliminated, the vote then goes to the next highest-ranked candidate on their ballot, continuing on until a candidate has at least 50% of the remaining votes.for ranked-choice voting strategies to take shape among the top candidates. To date, only one has — between former interim Mayor Mark Farrell, who is a frontrunner, and Supervisor Ahsha Safai, who has consistently polled in fifth place. The other three prominent candidates in the contest — incumbent Mayor London Breed, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, and antipoverty nonprofit founder and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie — have not announced a ranked-choice voting platform. During a press conference last week, Farrell lamented how ranked-choice voting is “confusing” for voters, and he’s hardly the first elected leader to do so. “I get to do campaign events every single day in front of Ph.Ds and law-school and business-school grads and undergrads and people that are incredibly intelligent, and they are confused about ranked-choice voting,” Farrell said. “And in my opinion, if there should be one thing that is simple in our democracy is how to vote.” With ranked-choice voting top of mind, The Examiner looked at a few central questions that are repeatedly raised about the system both in San Francisco and elsewhere.Political candidates sometimes form alliances, asking their supporters to rank the other candidate in the alliance on their ballots. In the 2018 special election held after the death of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, then-Supervisor London Breed faced off against two formidable challengers from The City’s progressive wing, former state Sen. Mark Leno and Supervisor Jane Kim.Though she had a plurality of first-choice votes, Breed only narrowly escaped with victory after ranked-choice voting was conducted. She ultimately won the election by a narrow margin — with 50.55% of the vote to Leno’s 49.45% — after the ninth round of ranked-choice voting. “I think that that was an example of a successful ranked choice voting strategy, and a positive example of why RCV exists,” Kim told The Examiner. “It allows people within the same political spectrum to run and organize and galvanize different bases. I think we were a successful example, because Mark and I in particular, really spoke to different bases in San Francisco.” Kim said Leno’s base was older, whiter, and more likely to identify as LGBTQ. Hers was younger, she said. Of course, voters might not be blindly following the advice of their preferred candidates, but ranking their ballots in a way that is simply ideologically coherent. In other words, it makes sense that many of Kim’s supporters would rank Leno higher than Breed — Kim and Leno had more ideological overlap than Kim and Breed. But it might not always be so cut and dried. While the two were both progressives, Kim said that when she knocked on voters’ doors, many of her supporters said they’d support Breed second. “A very small group of us knows where everyone stands politically,” she said. “But if you are just the average San Franciscan that doesn’t pay attention to politics, you see two young women of color running for office, and you assume that actually they’re more similar than the older white guy that’s been around for a long time.” Ultimately, a majority of Kim and Leno’s supporters appeared to follow their advice. When Kim was eliminated in the eighth round of vote counting, 13,210 of the votes she had received were transferred to Breed, while 44,724 went to Leno.From left: San Francisco mayoral candidates Angela Alioto, London Breed, Jane Kim and Mark Leno listen for a question at a forum put on by the Dignity Fund Coalition at the Herbst Theatre on Thursday, April 26, 2018. A 2022 Alaska congressional race could serve as further evidence of the potential effect — and limitations — of a ranked-choice voting strategy. To fill a vacant congressional seat, the state in August held a special election, the first to feature ranked-choice voting since Alaska voters approved the new system in 2020. The three-way race featured two Republicans — former Gov. Palin and Nick Begich III — against Democrat Mary Peltola. Peltola eked out a narrow victory, which some believed was because Palin eschewed a ranked-choice voting strategy in that election, refusing to link arms with fellow Republican Begich. The field of candidates was the same in the general election held just a few months later in November. Peltola actually won by a wider margin the second time around, but the details demonstrated how Republicans’ strategy — marked by the slogan “rank the red” — had changed in the interim. Ranked-choice voting results showed 50% of Begich’s voters ranked Palin No. 2 in the first election, but 67% did so in the second election. For as much hullabaloo as there is around ranked-choice voting, Will Mantell, communications director for the pro-RCV organization FairVote, described it in a straightforward way. Voters should rank according to their preference, he said, and candidates should try to get as much support as possible, prioritizing No. 1 votes. “Formal cross-endorsements can be a good tactic to reach beyond your base and build a broader coalition, but they don’t guarantee success,” Mantell said. “We’ve tracked about 25 RCV contests with cross-endorsements or joint campaigning in recent years. Candidates who cross-endorsed won in just nine of those races.”One of the most common complaints about ranked-choice voting is that it is confusing for voters. Researchers have tested that claim and found that, by and large, the overwhelming majority of voters say they’re comfortable with the system. A survey taken after San Francisco’s first go with the new system in 2004 found that 86% of voters said they understood ranked-choice voting “fairly well” or “perfectly well.” A majority of respondents said theyJohn Arntz, director of the San Francisco Department of Elections, said that while a study of San Francisco voters’ confidence in the system has not been conducted in many years, The City has not seen any indication — such as an increase in “overvotes” or an abnormally high number of exhausted ballots — that voters have become increasingly baffled by ranked-choice voting. The department focuses on educating voters how to properly fill out their ballot, even if they lack an understanding of how the process carries out from there.Ahsha Safaí , Mark Farrell, Daniel Lurie, Mayor London Breed and Aaron Peskin take the stage at the mayoral debate at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.One of the benefits touted by supporters of ranked-choice voting is that it encourages civility in a political discourse badly in need of it. The theory is that Candidate A will refrain from lambasting Candidate B, because doing so could alienate Candidate B’s supporters — supporters who could rank Candidate A second on their ballot for boost over the top in the race.Breed called Lurie “dangerous,” citing his lack of experience in city government. She publicly accused Farrell of calling her office to request that permits for hisFarrell has built his campaign around tearing down Breed and decrying her failures through six years in office. He’s also increasingly taken a sharp tone with Lurie, whom he described last week as “relentlessly attacking me with his inherited wealth” — at the same press conference in which he asked for Lurie supporters’ No. 2 votes.Left-right: Mark Farrell, Ahsha Safaí, Daniel Lurie, Mayor London Breed and Aaron Peskin on stage for the mayoral debate at UC Law San Francisco on Monday, June 17, 2024. Speculation about ranked-choice voting strategies grew in the runup to November’s San Francisco mayoral election — but so far, the race lacks any coherent one.would appear to give candidates incentive to form mutually beneficial partnerships, the race has thus far yet to see a major alliance form. As ballots land in San Franciscans’ mailboxes, time is running out for a game-changing strategy to take shape, according to political insiders who spoke with The Examiner. Eschewing alliances with each other, many candidates have instead trumpeted secondary endorsements from leaders outside their perceived base, like incumbentRanked-choice voting allows each voter to rank up to 10 candidates in order of preference. If and when that voter’s first-ranked candidate is eliminated, that voter’s support is transferred to their next-preferred candidate — if they remain in the race. In some cases, that system spurs candidates to form pacts, asking their respective supporters to support the other as a second — or sometimes third — choice. Ranked-choice voting is expected to be critical in deciding this year’s race, which features Breed attempting to secure a second full term in office against Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, Supervisor Ahsha Safai, former interim Mayor Mark Farrell, and Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune and antipoverty nonprofit founder.. The pact is seen by Farrell as a way to appeal to District 11 and working-class voters, but has largely been written off by opponents, given Safai’s relatively minuscule share of support in every publicized voter poll in recent months.Jim Stearns, a longtime political consultant working for Peskin, surmised that many voters have yet to firmly decide on who they’ll rank No. 1, let alone No. 2 or No. 3. “All of the candidates really need to focus on their first-choice votes, because ranked-choice voice only works if you are first, second or third ,” Stearns said. Last week, Farrell announced a ranked-choice voting strategy in which he asked Lurie’s supporters to rank him second. However, that’s far from forming an actual alliance — he has not told his supporters to rank Lurie second on their ballots, nor has Lurie said anything about seeking Farrell’s supporters’ second-choice votes. Farrell chastised Lurie for not embracing a ranked-choice voting alliance, suggesting that it was an act of “hubris” and that it could pave the way for Breed to win the race. Farrell’s dislike of Breed is no secret, and his disgust with her tenure in office is the focus of his campaign. “I do not agree with his tactics, I do not agree with his lack of experience, but I also recognize that many of supporters want the exact same thing that I do — real change in San Francisco, and making sure that neither London Breed or Aaron Peskin leads our city moving forward,” Farrell said at a press conference last week. In the absence of a formal alliance, Farrell and Lurie have continued attacking each other, despite sharing quite a bit of ideological overlap and tech entrepreneur Mahmood have already eclipsed the million-dollar fundraising mark themselves, with Mahmood credited his funds to grassroots support, including “people I’ve worked with over a decade in the federal government, to local nonprofits, to the private sector.” As of press time, Mahmood had raised more than $212,000 from 739 monetary contributions, 72% of which came from residents in The City and 91% of which came from Californians, according to campaign-finance data.Bilal Mahmood, candidate for Supervisor, at TogetherSF Action Voter Guide Event at Azalina’s restaurant in San Francisco on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. Mahmood alleged that Preston — who had raised nearly $307,000 from 1,356 contributors, 71% of which were in The City and 85% of which are in California — generated a “significant percentage” of funds outside of California because he “doesn’t have enough support relative locally.” “People are fed up,” Mahmood said. “They feel they have been let down by their elected officials, especially . There are a lot of housing and a lot of safety promises that have not been delivered.”effort and has raised a little more than $147,000 in contributions and public financing — is one of three other declared candidates. Scotty Jacobs, the youngest candidate in the race, and Allen Jones, a disability-rights activist and longtime Tenderloin resident, are also running for the seat. District 5 is at the heart of San Francisco and encompasses the Fillmore, Hayes Valley, the Western Addition, Japantown, Haight-Ashbury, the Panhandle, Alamo Square, and the Tenderloin. The“A lot of the center of gravity in this District 5 election has been focused around the Tenderloin,” said Christin Evans, founding board member of the Haight Ashbury Merchants Association. A mural by Christopher Burch in Veterans Alley on Shannon Street in the Tenderloin depicts his grandfather Fred Smith. The issues associated with the neighborhood — public safety, homelessness and crime — are representative of what’s affecting San Francisco as a whole, she said. “ has allies across progressives and moderates in District 5,” Evans said. “We have worked hand in hand with on issues like street cleanliness, and community ambassadors to provide a greater level of safety in the community.” Evans, who owns the independent Haight-Ashbury bookstore Booksmith, said she supports Preston for his work on reducing vacant storefronts in her neighborhood during the pandemic. She said she is looking forward to seeing more affordable housing built down the line in the district. “His office strikes a real balance between focusing on the immediate constituent issues as well as working on the longer-term issues that are challenging the community,” she said. Affordable housing is a bit of a sore spot for Robin Levitt, a longtime resident of Hayes Valley and one of the founding members of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association. Levitt, who’s been in the neighborhood for nearly 30 years, has had a front-row seat to theParcel K in Hayes Valley, seen in 2022, has become a point of contention between those who value its use as a recreational space and those who wish to see housing built there. The quarter-acre property near Patricia’s Green, a park in Hayes Valley, was tagged for affordable housing by The City more than 20 years ago, but efforts in that direction have been met with pushback from some residents wanting to keep it a recreation space. For Levitt, this ongoing battle represents San Francisco’s larger housing crisis. “If we can’t find a way to build affordable housing on this parcel, which is the poster child for affordable-housing development, how are we going to meet housing goals?” Levitt said.Preston has supported Parcel K becoming affordable housing, but the other candidates have either been lukewarm or outwardly unsupportive, Levitt said. Levitt, a landlord, said he has butted heads with Preston over tenant-protection policies, but he said he’s nonetheless backing the incumbent.However, some folks in other neighborhoods say they are looking to shake things up. “We have an opportunity for change in representation in District 5, and I think is the right person to be that change agent,” said Caryl Ito, a longtime Japantown community leader who has served on the San Francisco Airport Commission and the Board of Trustees for St. Francis Memorial Hospital. Ito said that she and others in Japantown have felt that the Tenderloin has eclipsed their neighborhood ever since it was redistricted into District 5 in 2022, and that Preston has spent little time in their neighborhood since then.Giant banner flags waving through the 56th annual Cherry Blossom Parade on Post Street through Japantown in San Francisco on Sunday, April 16, 2023. Steve Nakajo, a former executive director of the Japantown Task Force, said Preston has “not had a proactive approach at all ... we’re not a priority.” Nakajo said Preston hasn’t set aside time to meet with the community, while Mahmood has. Ito and Nakajo said they’re both supporting Mahmood. “There’s a stereotypical image that we’re OK within our enclave of four blocks,” he said. “I’m trying to look for a representative that has our interest in mind, as well as the rest of the district.” Just one neighborhood over, New Community Leadership Foundation Executive Director Majeid Crawford works with the Fillmore’s Black community. Crawford said he didn’t vote for Preston the first time around, but he will Nov. 5. “I can’t really speak for the whole community, but I will say I see a lot of support,” Crawford said. “There are so many people that I’ve talked to that he’s touched personally — people facing eviction, people wanting to celebrate culture, people wanting to start a business — I’ve seen him come in … and support people using the full extent of his office.”“It feels like he’s trying to build relationships with people in the community and empower people in the community, and create legislation that has an impact,” Crawford said.“I think every one of the candidates does care greatly about the community, all of them in their own way, all of them with their own perspectives and backgrounds, and we don’t know how it’s going to end up,” said Tim Hickey, the president of the North of the Panhandle Neighborhood Association. Hickey said that Preston’s approach is “unique” and “novel,” especially in regard to housing. Although Preston’s critics would argue that his strategy isn’t working, Hickey said that at least Preston has “spent a good bit of energy” on it. Hickey said his neighborhood requires fewer resources than others in the district, including the Tenderloin. “As a district supervisor, the most under-resourced areas historically will often demand most of their energy,” he said. “We have lower demands. We have lower needs for resources.”amid the drug-overdose crisis, became part of District 5 in 2022. In a record-setting year for deaths, 117 people with fixed addresses in the neighborhood fatally overdosed in 2023. In all, out of 810 citywide overdose deaths, 150 were found in the Tenderloin. Several Tenderloin organizations, including GLIDE and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, declined to comment for this story. Kate Robinson of the Tenderloin Community Benefit District agreed to speak with The Examiner about what issues the Tenderloin residents are dealing with this election year, but would not comment on the candidates.That includes clean streets, increased police presence, and better protection for business owners and children, Robinson said. She said it has been especially difficult for small-business owners, many of whom are immigrants and women making incredible food that many outside the neighborhood are completely unaware of. “It’s challenging to get folks who are not from the Tenderloin to come to the Tenderloin as a destination — which is really sad, because we have some of the best offerings,” Robinson said. That’s been a consistent problem, Robinson said. She said the neighborhood’s challenges are the same as The City’s. “ has always been a microcosm of San Francisco as a whole,” she said. “You can’t isolate one neighborhood from the rest of The City and expect progress for that city.”Sorry, your subscription does not include this content.Click and hold your mouse button on the page to select the area you wish to save or print. You can click and drag the clipping box to move it or click and drag in the bottom right corner to resize it. When you're happy with your selection, click the checkmark icon next to the clipping area to continue.This is the name that will be displayed next to your photo for comments, blog posts, and more. Choose wisely!Create a password that only you will remember. If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address.Forgot Password An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
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