Before I get to the gist of this post, of the three Irvine City Council members who want to move Irvine to Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), only Melinda Liu would have likely prevailed in her election in 2024. If RCV was in place, Anthony Kuo would be on the city council now — three candidates, two Republicans and less than 50% for Betty Martinez-Franco.
In 2022, the last full city no-district council elections, Kuo would have been the beneficiary of John Park’s votes and would be on the council instead of Kathleen Treseder. As a first time candidate, there’s no way Treseder would have eclipsed Democratic votes that would have gone to Larry Agran.
That all said, I’m getting a lot of calls and emails — even from RCV fans — who believe a massive decision on how Irvine votes should be done by the voters and no the city council. Of course, Liu, Martinez-Franco and Treseder could all make this right by putting this on the ballot for 2026. All three are up for re-election, so its entirely possible the voters will make them pay for their decision to move it forward.
I have an official inquiry with the OC ROV on exact costs but was able to research the cost of implementing RCV should the Irvine measure move forward without the voice of voters. It’s going to cost us.
Assuming Irvine’s population is about 320,000 people with anywhere from 200,000–250,000 registered voters, one-time added costs will likely be in the $100,000–$250,000 range (though actual figures vary widely).
- NCSL survey of local jurisdictions using RCV: Average one-time switching cost of about $155,000 (high due to outliers up to $1M); median $17,000; adjusted average (no outliers) ~$40,000. Mean cost per voter: $0.94; median $0.43. Factors: jurisdiction size, software/equipment updates, voter education, labor, and consultants.
- Minneapolis had a population of 380k at time when they implemented RCV, or around $365,000 total in 2009. This included $123k one-time startup, heavy voter education of about $110 thousand.
- Multnomah County, OR (Portland area): RCV was a $354k one-time cost in Extra ballot paper can add tens to hundreds of thousands in larger races.
Main Added Cost Areas for Registrar of Voters
- Software/tabulation updates: Often the biggest tech expense (scanners, ballot design, RCV tabulation add-ons). Many modern systems need only patches. Not sure where the OC ROV stands on this.
- Voter education/outreach: Flyers, websites, videos, ads, mock elections — often 30%+ of initial costs.
- Ballot printing/paper: Longer ballots (ranks + instructions) increase costs, especially with many candidates.
- Labor/training: Staff time for design, testing, canvassing, and poll worker training. Hand-counting (if used) adds temporary staff/facility costs.
- Other: Legal review, consultants, or equipment if outdated.
Ongoing costs (per election): Usually low after the first cycle — mainly slightly higher printing and minor tabulation/education refreshers. Many places report “minor increases” or none.
Voter education would be very important for RCV. The concept of an “exhausted” ballot that is tossed out if one has not ranked a candidate for a particular round may or may not be the intent of the voter.