At Tuesday night’s city council meeting where Rank Choice Voting was added to the November 2026 ballot to change the way Irvine elects city leaders, about a half-dozen public speakers from UAW Local 4811 spoke in favor of Ranked Choice Voting (thanks for wearing those shirts; any I am sorry I’m unable to name you directly). All were passionate about how Rank Choice Voting would advance democracy and received lots of applause for those in purple shirts.
You can almost see the invisible hand of Dr. Kathleen Treseder’s UCI contacts in this particular group of speakers.
Here’s the thing. I am a big fan of unions. My dad was a union member, my wife is now, and I support their work. And, if you’re part of a Union, you get to vote on Union leaders and Union issues as you should. After seeing these union speakers advocating for RCV, only one referenced it as part of what their union does. So of course, I had to dig to see if UAW Local 4811 handles their Union elections with Rank Choice Voting, right?
- Elections for officers (Executive Board, Joint Council, etc.) require a simple majority of votes cast, in line with the UAW International Constitution.
- There is provision for a run-off election if needed (e.g., if no candidate gets a majority in the initial vote).
- Voting is by secret ballot, with automatic nominations for eligible members (who must accept in writing), candidate statements, and balloting designed to be accessible (this from UAW5810.org)
- The bylaws emphasize standard majority voting and runoffs rather than ranked-choice/instant-runoff methods. Election notices and procedures (e.g., for the 2024 triennial election) also reference this structure with potential runoffs, without mentioning RCV.
I’m sorry but this both misconstrues the comment of the speaker at city council and misses the point of RCV: to get a government elected by a majority. She said very clearly that UAW has used ranked choice voting to decide on bargaining priorities, she did not say it was used for officer elections. Second, even in your own telling you describe that UAW requires a majority vote via runoff. The City of Irvine has no such requirement. That’s at the heart of the problem here.
This post is practically pure misinformation.
But it’s accurate. Your own union does not use RCV to elect officers
It does not misconstrue the comment of the speaker who identified as a member of the union. The UAW use of RCV is not on the union’s website period. In today’s election laws, the city doesnt require a runoff to get to a majority. Perhaps the union should spend more time encouraging voters to vote. And there is no problem with Irvine elections as they stand today
Sounds like you will be voting No.
I won’t be; our current system is simple. Scroll through a list of candidates for office. Vote once. Whoever gets the most wins. A better use of time for the RCV crowd is to increase all voter turnout. That’s a more democratic way to go
Nothing like hyprocrisy by UAW Local 4811. BTW, that Local covers UCI, so I assume that Councilmember Treseder was responsible for their members speaking in support of RCV. Maybe they were even coerced in some fashion.
Another wonderful article, Dan! This only passed with a 4 – 3 majority, squeaking through at midnight. Agran generously let Martinez-Franco and Melching tweak the budget issue during an ordered break. There are only five City Council meetings until Nov. 3rd. If RCV passes, they will be the last meetings with any resemblance of a Republican Government in Irvine.
p.s. I am banned out of NextDoor for speaking out against RCV.
you have to admire those paid lobbbyists from the RCV groups who will be in Irvine to try and get this measure passed. My research is all about asking them “what about this?”
Dan – When a lunatic like Pam Wykoff agrees with you, it might be time to reevaluate your position.
and I even let you comment here. My position is my position and I don’t care who agrees with me.