By David W. Burns
November 22, 2010

Since the last issue of U.S. MAYOR went to print, a number of changes and updated winners have been declared in two mayoral elections in Alameda County in Northern California where ranked choice voting was implemented for the first time.

In Oakland, Jean Quan overtook Don Perata and was declared the winner on November 11 with 50.98 percent of the vote. Oakland uses the "ranked choice voting" system, which allows voters to choose second and third preference among the candidates listed. While Quan did not get as many first-place votes as Perata, she was able to best him as a second or third choice among the majority of voters' ballots.

Quan will serve as the first female mayor of Oakland along with a city council where women occupy six of the eight seats. She will replace current Mayor Ron Dellums who chose not to run for reelection.

In neighboring San Leandro, another city which also used ranked choice voting for the first time, Stephen H. Cassidy beat incumbent Mayor Anthony B. "Tony" Santos, despite Santos leading the first round of voting by a mere 75 votes. Cassidy won in the end with 50.43 percent of the vote.

Oakland and San Leandro were the only two cities with mayoral elections in Alameda County in Northern California where a ranked choice voting was implemented. Alameda, Dublin, and Pleasanton also had mayoral elections, but in their cases, the candidate with the plurality of votes was declared the winner.