San Francisco is implementing ranked choice voting in this year’s upcoming mayoral race, resulting in confusion for voters. Ranked choice enables voters to list their top three candidates. The new system aims to cut election costs by eliminating runoff elections.

In light of this year’s four leading candidates being of Chinese descent, the Sing Tao Daily
randomly surveyed 325 Chinese American voters on their first choice for mayor and their
understanding of ranked choices. Astonishingly, one third of the respondents reported that they
were unaware of the  adoption of ranked choice voting. Another 16 percent said they were
confused by the new system.

The Chinese American Voter Education Committee (CAVEC) mailed 50,000 Chinese and
English brochures to local residents to provide more detailed information on ranked choice
voting, worried that the new system will be a barrier for Chinese voters on election day.

By: Trang Tran

Source: http://newamericamedia.org/2011/10/a-third-of-sf-chinese-voters-unaware-of-