Two Richmond measures attempting to change how the city conducts elections both seemed headed for victory Wednesday.
Measure J and Measure L are both aimed at changing the current plurality system in which mayoral and city council candidates with the most votes win.
Both were winning Wednesday.
Measure J had 58.43% yes votes (12,650 votes) while Measure L was winning with 53.16% approval (11,476 “yes” votes).
Both required majority votes to be approved, and if both pass, only the measure receiving the most votes will be implemented, city officials said.
Measure J asked voters if they want to amend the city’s charter by requiring winners to have at least 50% of the vote. If no candidate gets the majority of the vote in a primary election, the measure would change the system so the two candidates with the most votes face each other in the fall general election.
Measure L asked voters if they want to amend the city charter to allow ranked choice voting, also known as instant runoff voting.
Ranked choice voting aims for a winner with more than 50% of the vote but it would require only one trip to the polls. Ranked choice offers voters the opportunity to rank candidates by preference on their ballots.
When votes are tallied, if a candidate wins more than 50% of first-preference votes, they’re declared the winner. But if no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. Ballots showing the eliminated candidate as their first choice are then reevaluated and counted as first-preference ballots for the next highest-ranked candidate in that round.
The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority.