In early August 2010 (prior to the first election using "instant-runoff" voting), incumbent mayor Ron Dellums announced that he would not be seeking reelection to a second term.

[1] In November 2010, Oakland also (for the first time) instant-runoff voting to elect its mayor, three city council races and four other local offices, with the elections for the mayor and Oakland council district four requiring multiple rounds of counting.

[2] Oakland used instant-runoff voting in the city's remaining elected offices in 2012.

IRV was again used in 2014 and 2016, including in the 2014 mayoral election in which incumbent Jean Quan was defeated by Libby Schaaf.

The following table shows how votes were counted[13] in a series of rounds of instant runoffs.