Oakland, California, Measure O, Ranked-Choice Voting Amendment (November 2006)

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Oakland Measure O

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Election date

November 7, 2006

Topic
Local charter amendments and Local elections and campaigns
Status

ApprovedApproved

Type
Referral


Oakland Measure O was on the ballot as a referral in Oakland on November 7, 2006. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported adopting ranked-choice voting for municipal elections in Oakland.

A "no" vote opposed adopting ranked-choice voting for municipal elections in Oakland.


Election results

Oakland Measure O

Result Votes Percentage

Approved Yes

64,093 68.63%
No 29,299 31.37%
Results are officially certified.
Source


Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Measure O was as follows:

Shall the City Charter be amended to require the use of ranked choice voting, known sometimes as instant runoff voting, to elect city offices by a majority vote at a November election without holding a prior June election?

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.


Background

Ranked-choice voting (RCV)

Ranked-choice voting (RCV) ballot measures
Pages:
Ranked-choice voting (RCV)
History of RCV ballot measures
Electoral systems on the ballot
Local electoral systems on the ballot
Electoral systems by state
See also: Ranked-choice voting (RCV)

The ballot measure has played a role in shaping electoral systems in the U.S., including ranked-choice voting (RCV) for state and local elections.

Since 1915, there have been more than 150 ballot measures to adopt or repeal ranked-choice voting systems. Ashtabula, Ohio, was the first jurisdiction to approve a ranked-choice voting measure in 1915.

RCV is an electoral system in which voters rank candidates on their ballots. RCV can be used for single-winner elections or multi-winner elections; when used for multi-winner elections, the system has also been called single-transferable vote or proportional representation. These terms were often used to describe multi-winner RCV before the 1970s. You can learn more about ranked-choice voting systems and policies here.

Local RCV ballot measures

See also: History of ranked-choice voting (RCV) ballot measures

Between 1965 and 2024, 79 ranked-choice voting (RCV) local ballot measures were on the ballot in 58 jurisdictions in 19 states.

  • Ballotpedia has located 71 local ballot measures to adopt RCV. Voters approved 52 (78.9%) and rejected 15 (21.1%).
  • There were eight local ballot measures to repeal RCV. Voters approved four (50.0%) and rejected four (50.0%).
  • The year with the most local RCV ballot measures was 2022, when nine were on the ballot in nine jurisdictions. Voters approved seven of them.
  • The state with the most local ballot measures related to RCV is California, where there have been 13.


The following table shows the number of ranked-choice voting measures by topic.

Local ranked-choice vote measures by topic and outcome, 1965 - April 2025
Topic Total Approved Approved (%) Defeated Defeated (%)
  Adopt RCV 72 57 79.2% 15 20.08%
  Repeal RCV 8 4 50.0% 4 50.0%
Total 80 61 76.3% 19 23.7%


Path to the ballot

The Oakland City Council referred the charter amendment to the ballot on July 18, 2006.[1]

See also

Footnotes