Pierce County Council Questions for the Auditor

On June 11, the Pierce County Auditor will be meeting with the County Council in a study session to discuss the outcome of the Blue Ribbon Review Panel on Ranked Choice Voting. Below are some recommended questions to be asked of the Auditor either during the study session or some other time. The Auditor's presentation on May 30 contained a list of Items to be discussed with the County Council. For reference purposes, we listed the relevant Item # for each question.


Item #5: How long did Sequoia's representatives say it takes to run the RCV algorithm?

Item #5: After the algorithm is run, how long did Sequoia's representatives say it would take to run the preliminary results report on the ranked choice races?

Item #6: During the panel meetings there was much discussion about what to do about ties, how many ties have they had in San Francisco since implementing ranked choice voting?

Item #9: In 2008, there will be a maximum of four ranked choice races on any voter's ballot (Executive, Assessor-Treasurer, Sheriff, County Council). If there were an average of three candidates on the ballot in each race, how many ballot cards would be necessary? What would the return postage be on that number of ballot cards?

Item #11: The Charter contains the following sentence:

"The County Council may change the signature number requirement by ordinance so long as the same number applies to all candidates."

What does this mean?

Item #11: If the County Council changed the number of signatures required for candidates to get on the ballot to ten, what impact would that have on minor party candidates and independents?