Results close for dueling Richmond election reform measures

RICHMOND — Election reform is coming to Richmond. What the change will be depends on which of the two competing measures are approved by voters.

Both Measure J and Measure L call for updating Richmond’s election system. Both had more than 50% support in early results Tuesday night, but only the one with the greatest number of votes will become law.

The community initiative, Measure J, appeared to have stronger support. The measure would require the city to hold a primary election during which a candidate can only win if they receive a majority of total votes cast. If no candidate receives a majority of votes, the top two vote getters will face off in the general election.

Alternatively, Measure L, the City Council’s ranked choice voting initiative, would establish an instant runoff election system, giving voters the opportunity to rank candidates based on who they’d prefer to be in office.

If no candidate receives a majority of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes will be removed from the running and ballots cast for them would be redistributed based on rankings. That process would be repeated until a candidate received a majority of votes.

According to initial results, 57% of voters backed Measure J while 53% backed Measure L.