More Choice Voting Would Have Saved San Diego $4.6 Million in County Supervisor Special Election

San Diego county building with the caption San Diego Could Have Saved $4+ Million
Image created by IVN staff.
Author: Amy Tobia
Published: 03 Jun, 2025
2 min read

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. South Bay voters are navigating a monsoon of negative, and often misleading, political ads tied to the July 1 runoff election for San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors. But here’s the kicker: taxpayers are footing a $4.6 million bill for this completely unnecessary second round of voting.

Unnecessary? Absolutely.

LISTEN: The Independent Voter Podcast Debuts — What Drives People to Take on a Broken System?

Had San Diego County adopted a reform like the “More Choice” voting system, special elections could be reduced to a single round and the race between Chula Vista Mayor John McCann and Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre could already be over. Voters would have ranked their choices in the April 2024 primary, and the candidate with the majority of support would have been declared the winner right then and there.

That means no second election, no $4.6 million tab for taxpayers, and no flood of attack ads and political mailers that distort more than they inform.

What More Choice Voting Does Differently

Instead of forcing voters, and taxpayers, to pay for a costly two-round special election, More Choice voting would let voters rank candidates in a single, decisive election. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the system instantly conducts a runoff by counting voters’ next-ranked choices until someone has majority support.

It’s simple, fair, and transparent. And it's already being used in municipalities across the country.

Would McCann or Aguirre have won under More Choice? We’ll never know. But what we do know is this: the result would be the same, and the process would be cheaper, faster, and far less toxic.

$4.6 Million Could Have Been Spent Elsewhere

According to NBC 7 San Diego, the County Registrar estimates the cost of the runoff election at $4.6 million. That’s money that could have gone toward public safety, infrastructure, or services in the same communities now flooded with campaign spam.

Running for President as an Independent: How it Really Works

This isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about respect, for voters, for taxpayers, and for the integrity of our elections.

IVP Donate

Give Voters More Choice in Chula Vista and San Diego

Recent polling shows clear, data-driven support for reform. In the City of San Diego, 73% of voters said they want more choices in elections, and 63% expressed dissatisfaction with the current political system. 

In Chula Vista, a separate poll found that 68% of voters support switching to a More Choice-style voting system that would eliminate costly runoffs for special elections and give voters the power to rank candidates in a single election. 

The numbers are clear: across South Bay and the broader San Diego region, voters overwhelmingly support making elections less expensive, less time consuming and more representative.

Related articles

vote here sign with people standing in line to vote.
Why Are Democrats in DC Failing to Implement an Initiative Passed by 73% of Voters?
Back in November, DC voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative 83, a measure that called for semi-open primaries and ranked choice voting (RCV) in all city elections. The problem – the DC City Council has yet to fully fund it....
15 Jul, 2025
-
4 min read
Open Primary NYC
5 Influential Forces in NYC that Threaten the Success of Open Primaries
New York City’s Charter Revision Commission (CRC) is considering a proposal to adopt a nonpartisan “Top Two” open primary system, which would allow the city’s 1.1 million independent voters to cast a ballot in primary elections they pay for....
14 Jul, 2025
-
13 min read
Oklahoma State Capitol Building.
Lawsuit Slams Oklahoma Law as ‘Unconstitutional Sabotage’ of Open Primaries
Two Oklahoma veterans – one a pediatrician, the other a U.S. Coast Guard commander – have filed a legal challenge to SB 1027 in Oklahoma, a law they say unconstitutionally targets their statewide citizen initiative to implement open primaries, State Question 836 (SQ 836)....
08 Jul, 2025
-
5 min read

Latest articles

vote here sign with people standing in line to vote.
Why Are Democrats in DC Failing to Implement an Initiative Passed by 73% of Voters?
Back in November, DC voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative 83, a measure that called for semi-open primaries and ranked choice voting (RCV) in all city elections. The problem – the DC City Council has yet to fully fund it....
15 Jul, 2025
-
4 min read
Cartoon image of Cuomo and Adams running into each other with cars.
Adams and Cuomo Power Players Play Chicken With New York Elections
NYC Mayor Eric Adams and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo are currently playing a game of chicken with each other – leveraging the city’s electoral system to pressure the other to quit the race. The question is: Who will blink first? Or… are they headed for a collision?...
14 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read
Open Primary NYC
5 Influential Forces in NYC that Threaten the Success of Open Primaries
New York City’s Charter Revision Commission (CRC) is considering a proposal to adopt a nonpartisan “Top Two” open primary system, which would allow the city’s 1.1 million independent voters to cast a ballot in primary elections they pay for....
14 Jul, 2025
-
13 min read