San José Inches Closer to Ranked Choice Voting — but Only in Some City Elections

“If we can restore a district’s representation more quickly and at a lower cost than a two-step election process, that is compelling and it’s worth having the option available to us,” said Councilmember Michael Mulcahy.

In San Francisco and Oakland, all local elections are conducted using ranked choice. Supporters tout the system as a way to save costs and avoid low-turnout runoffs. Opponents of ranked choice argue that it is overly complicated and will lead to confusion among voters and errors by election administrators.

The change proposed in San José is limited: If a mayor or councilmember were to leave office before the end of their term, the council would be allowed, but not required, to call a ranked choice election to fill the seat. The council would maintain its current options of calling a traditional special election or filling the seat through appointment.

The council voted 9-2 to move the ranked choice proposal forward. Vice Mayor Pam Foley and Councilmember George Casey opposed the idea, and Councilmember Peter Ortiz was absent.

“I just don’t understand the need to add an extra layer of complexity to the voting process,” said Casey.

Ranked choice supporters initially aimed to place the question before voters in November, but Councilmember David Cohen said a citywide election would cost over $2 million. San José is already scheduled to hold a mayoral election in March 2028; the cost of adding a measure to that ballot would be under $700,000.

“We decided it was prudent to place the measure on the 2028 primary election [ballot],” Cohen said. “That will help us in our next budget cycle.”

The council approved a budget this month that closed a $50.3 million shortfall, but another deficit of nearly $27 million is projected in the 2027-28 fiscal year.

In 2025, a special election and subsequent runoff were held to fill a vacant council seat in District 3, after the resignation of disgraced Councilmember Omar Torres. A single ranked choice election to fill the seat could have saved the city $1.5 million, according to a memo written by four councilmembers supporting the ranked choice idea.

Gabby Chavez-Lopez, the nonprofit executive who lost the District 3 runoff, was among the handful of residents who spoke in favor of the ranked choice proposal during public comment Tuesday.

“As someone who has recently personally experienced a special election firsthand, I also understand the significant resources, time and community fatigue — to put it nicely — that come with multiple elections,” Chavez-Lopez said.

Robert Rissel, a San Jose resident, said votes redistributed through ranked choice create an “artificial majority.”

“No one candidate has received a majority of first-place votes,” he said.

The memorandum approved by the council on Tuesday requires a final vote, likely sometime next year, to officially place the ranked choice measure on the March 2028 ballot.