Implementing instant runoff voting (IRV) this year may cost the City of Oakland nearly $1 million. This is according to a new report from City Attorney John Russo.

The $1 million would be Oakland's share of implementation costs if San Leandro and Berkeley also implement IRV, and if the three cities divide the cost based on the number of registered voters.

Here's Russo's memo:

Jan 5 Resolution IRV costs and primary issues

Even if Oakland decides to pay for IRV (also called "ranked choice voting"), do we also need to spend for a primary?

Russo's report suggests that, if the City Council refrains from holding a June primary, then Oakland will only have to spend about $147,000 this year for ranked choice voting. We will save money in successive years because it will not have to pay for start-up costs again.

If IRV allows the city to only have one election in November and avoid a costly June primary, do we want the primary? (We are broke. folks).

In other words, is a primary worth $800,000?

Troublingly, there's also a possibility that if Oakland is the only local municipality to move ahead with using IRV, the city would end up shouldering the total $1.5 million in costs for IRV. Neither San Leandro nor Berkeley, the two cities we are asking to contribute and help defray our costs, have mandates to use IRV in 2010. It's not unreasonable to expect them to defer -- and leave our officials holding the bag (and paying for it.)

Russo's memo calls for an MOU (memorandum of understanding) that would divide the costs among the three municipalities.

So, judging by Russo's memo, the city has some big decision to make. Will the Jan 5 City Council meeting offer enough time to get into the issues?

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