John M. Lee: Make Your 3 Votes Count

For the first time in the history of San Francisco, this year's mayoral race will be decided with ranked choice voting and it has created quite a heated race with many well-qualified candidates.

Actually, with the initial pool of candidates there was no drama and all the candidates were trying to be polite to each other in an attempt to pick up the other candidates' second or third place votes.

In ranked choice voting (RCV), we all have the opportunity to vote for three candidates and rank them one, two and three. After the election is over, your first-place vote counts and if that candidate happens to rank last, that candidate drops out and your second choice becomes your vote. In the event that that candidate ranks last and he/she is eliminated, your third choice becomes your primary vote. If you think that's confusing, you are not alone!

In this voting system, it becomes important to obtain at least one of the three votes that each member of the public casts so the candidates cannot bash each other and alienate themselves from others. Thus, what happens is that some candidates campaign together and say nice things about each other with no real focus on issues.

That all changed when Mayor Ed Lee declared that he was going to run in early August. All of a sudden, he emerged as the clear front runner and the other candidates started running an "anyone but Ed Lee" campaign.

The discussion turned from how Lee was doing such a wonderful job, working so well with the supervisors, the city attorney and public defender, to how can you trust Ed Lee?

Lee counters with he did not think he was going to run for mayor last year, but during his term as interim mayor so many people approached him and asked him to run because he was doing such a good job, that he changed his mind to let the people vote for him.

To Lee's defense, he has performed his job extremely well this year. He was able to work with the SF Board of Supervisors to close a $380 million gap in the City's budget and brought business and labor together to control public employee pension costs and protect the vital city services San Franciscans depend on every day. Lee made attracting and creating jobs, keeping our streets safe and investing in our infrastructure his top priorities. For more than 22 years of civil service, Lee has worked under four different mayors, and in five city departments to provide services to all citizens of San Francisco. He deserves your careful consideration and at least one of your votes.

As I mentioned, we have many qualified candidates in this race. The other top names are Dennis Herrera, currently San Francisco's City Attorney. Herrera has a broad base of support and has the second place endorsement of the city's Democratic Party. Leland Yee, currently a state senator and former San Francisco supervisor, was the front runner before Lee jumped into the race. Yee also has a broad base of support and will be a formidable candidate in this race. Bevan Dufty, the only openly gay candidate and former supervisor who had the highest approval rating amongst supervisors when he left office, also has a chance. David Chiu, Board of Supervisors president, started the mayoral campaign nicely, but has been hurt the most by Lee's decision to run.

I believe any of these candidates would make a fine mayor for San Francisco and I am looking forward to election day to see who will win.

Election day this year is on Nov. 8 and absentee ballots are going out the first week in October. So no matter who you decide to vote for, remember to vote and that you have three choices.

John M. Lee was the 2010 president of the San Francisco Association of Realtors and specializes in the Richmond and Sunset Districts. If you have any real estate questions, please call John at (415) 447-6231 or email at johnlee@isellsf.com.