Ranked race: Ranked-choice voting was supposed to increase turnout - but that wasn't the case this time in San Francisco, where only about 40 percent of registered voters bothered to cast a ballot.

And thanks to the system of tossing out losing votes, Ed Lee wound up being elected mayor with only about 43 percent of the total ballots cast.

Another way to look at it: Matt Gonzalez got more votes in his losing 2003 runoff against Gavin Newsom than Lee and runner-up John Avalos received - combined.

Bottom line: Boring candidates and lackluster campaigns equal low turnout, no matter what the system.