Redondo council discusses whether/how to move forward with instant-runoff voting
by Garth Meyer “I’m going to throw up the B.S. flag on this,” said Mayor Jim Light Aug. 6 during a city council discussion about whether to send the question of instant-runoff voting back to voters, to decide the mechanism to conduct the runoffs. “You can game the system, and people try to,” he said. “You can game any system, it happens in all systems,” said City Councilman Todd Loewenstein. “I have no doubt that the appointed mayor has thought of a way to overturn the will of 77% of the voters of Redondo Beach…” said Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr. Light answered, from the perspective of someone who voted for instant runoff, as a regular citizen in 2023. Redondo Beach voters passed a ballot measure then to amend the city charter with “Majority Vote: Instant Runoff Election,” replacing the earlier system for elected offices in the city. The ballot measure did not designate a specific method for instant runoff. The earlier practice called for a runoff election in May, if no candidate gets 50% plus one in the main March election. “I would put it to a vote of the people, it’s not overturning, it’s giving the facts,” the mayor said. “We are under the obligation to put the best voting…
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