Santa Clara County officials have postponed discussions on implementing ranked choice voting due to pressing financial concerns, particularly the potential loss of hundreds of millions in federal funding. Supervisors Betty Duong and Susan Ellenberg emphasized the need to address the county's budgetary challenges before shifting to ranked choice voting. The estimated cost of implementing this voting system is around $4 million, which includes significant expenses for public education on the new voting method. The board plans to revisit the proposal after September 30, coinciding with federal fiscal updates.
"It's not about the issue philosophically; it's about the existential crisis of what this county will look like and how this county will operate."
"This topic doesn't need to be a priority for this board right now; we may have to make extraordinary changes in how we fundamentally budget if we're going to need to backfill the loss of federal dollars."
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