Irvine residents weighed in on whether or not they want to overhaul the way their city council elections are run and change the city’s voting method to a system known as ranked choice voting.
Election results show about 51% of votes cast are in support of transitioning the city to ranked choice voting while about 49% of votes are against the change, according to results from the OC Registrar of Voters as of 1:36 a.m. Wednesday morning.
If approved, Irvine would start using ranked choice voting for city council elections beginning in 2028.
Irvine currently uses a plurality voting system for its district elections, meaning residents currently can only vote for one city council candidate who is running in the district they live in.
In a plurality voting system, the candidate who garners the most votes wins outright.
In a ranked choice voting system, voters get to rank candidates in order of preference.
That means if three candidates are running for a single council district, then voters who live in that district get to rank all three in order of who they would like to see take office the most.
If three candidates were listed for one district, voters rank candidates: choosing a first-place option, a second-place option and a third-place option.
Votes are then tabulated — all first-, second- and third-choice votes are counted until a candidate secures the more than 50% needed to win.
In a ranked choice voting system, also known as an instant runoff voting system, residents do not need to vote more than once.
For more information about how ranked choice voting works, click here.
No other Orange County city uses ranked choice voting, but Huntington Beach may soon take up the method in response to a judge’s order.
It comes as Irvine grapples with a rocky budget and a structural deficit that is estimated to reach an annual $37 million by July 1, 2028. If spending doesn’t slow down, that deficit could increase to $47 million by the end of the decade.
Transitioning to ranked choice voting could quadruple election costs in Irvine, according to preliminary estimates for rolling out the new system and educating voters.
