On December 4, the California Secretary of State certified vote-counting equipment that is already being used in Alameda County, California, for the purpose of letting the city of Oakland use Instant Runoff Voting for its own city elections. See this story. The voters of Oakland voted to use IRV in 2006, so they have been waiting a long time. There will now be only one round of city elections in Oakland, to be held in November 2010.

Only charter cities in California may use IRV for their own elections. But, Oakland is a charter city.

On December 4, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Bianco heard oral arguments in MacKay v Crews, a lawsuit involving the identity of the national Reform Party officers. The case was heard in Central Islip, Long Island, New York. He will accept further written evidence and arguments, which must be submitted by December 8. He promised to rule by December 11.

On December 4, the results of an exit poll in Hendersonville, North Carolina, were released. Hendersonville has used Instant Runoff Voting for its last two city elections. The State Board of Elections funded an exit poll to ask Hendersonville voters if they like IRV or not. Here are the results. One link within the press release lead to the full results. Another leads to the questionaire. The results are based on responses from 322 voters. Henderson is in the western end of the state.