Running as a Latina in a ranked choice election
Two years ago, I ran to represent District 7 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. It was a difficult time for our city – facing a global pandemic and a nationwide economic downturn – so it was crucial for candidates to offer real solutions, and for voters to have a real choice in who represents them.
Ranked choice voting (RCV), which San Francisco has used for two decades, helped on both counts. It affected not just how voters used their ballots, but also how candidates campaigned and our ability to fundraise.
Right after I hired a campaign manager, we both took a training on RCV and learned as much as we could about how it works. We proactively created an RCV campaign plan; I focused on policy, complimented my opponents when appropriate and emphasized areas where I agreed with them rather than going on the attack. I ranked a second choice on my ballot, and urged my supporters to do the same. Some candidates took a more negative approach to campaigning and lost valuable second choice support as a result.
RCV also provided an incentive for me to campaign beyond my likely base. I canvassed neighborhoods in every section of the district and engaged with voters who I knew already preferred another candidate. They got to know me well and I got to know them.
This led to my historic win, as the first woman to represent this district, and the first first Latina elected to the city’s Board of Supervisors without having been appointed by the mayor first. That felt good for the Latino community, especially because my district is not majority Latino. It was proof that one of us could win, even outside of the predominantly Latino neighborhoods. Because I won an RCV race, however, I have alliances with people in my district who are not part of my natural coalition. They have my number and know how I think, and vice versa. They come to me, and I go to them. That’s a good thing for governing. I was voted into office with a mandate to lead, not a mandate to prove I could lead.
Race and gender dynamics played out in my race, as they have in the campaigns of many other women and candidates of color. As much as the Supreme Court may want to, they can’t wish away those factors from our society. Women on the whole, and women of color in particular, remain underrepresented at all levels of government.
Emily Murase and I were the only two women running in a seven-person race. Some folks worried (and other folks were hoping) that we would split that female vote. In a plurality race, that might have happened. With RCV, what actually happened is that Emily’s votes transferred to me at twice the rate they transferred to everyone else. That crucial second choice support propelled me from third place into second by the fourth round of counting.
RCV’s impact goes beyond vote transfers, though. In many elections, women and candidates of color face questions about our viability, and RCV helps address them. When we were looking at financial filings, we found that certain folks had donated to two or even three candidates. People of color were more likely to donate to people of color, and women were more likely to donate to women. Having RCV definitely helped with my fundraising, because it spoke to my viability. Voters could donate to and vote for more than one candidate, even candidates who defied traditional notions of ‘viability.’
By the time November arrived, my staff and I were exhausted. Before RCV, we would have been forced to keep campaigning (and spending) in a separate runoff election. RCV takes away both of those burdens – which fall especially hard on women and people of color who often don’t have the same resources available to other candidates.
Most importantly, RCV allowed San Franciscans to vote for the person they really believed in, rather than vote ‘strategically.’ In the first round, no candidate received more than a fourth of the vote, and I was in third with 20%. In other jurisdictions, this might have picked a winner who most residents had voted against, but here, we got to see who our residents wanted as a 2nd or 3rd option.
Ranked choice voting strengthens our democracy. It elevates candidates who normally face barriers, gives voters a bigger set of choices, and keeps campaigns focused on the issues that people care about. San Francisco was smart to adopt it 20 years ago, and more cities across the nation should follow our example.
Myrna Melgar represents District 7 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She was first elected in November 2020.
