70+ New York City Candidates Oppose Delay to RCV, Push Council on Education

Candidates in the same district, and former EDs of the BLAC, unite

NEW YORK, NY (12/16/2020) (readMedia)-- Today, over 70 candidates from across the city -- some running against each other -- released a statement in support of ranked choice voting (RCV) and opposing any delay. Instead they pushed the NYC Council to do its job and pass intro 1994, a bill that will fully fund voter education on RCV.

The full statement with signers including mayoral candidates Dianne Morales and Carlos Menchaca, former BLA (Black, Latino, Asian) Caucus executive director Corey Ortega, and 70+ others, below:

"We are candidates for City Council, Borough President, and Office of the Mayor, many running in the same race. Today we stand united, to voice our unwavering support for implementing Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in New York City. Ranked Choice Voting, an electoral system approved by New York City voters by a margin of nearly 3-1, will ensure that the winner will be chosen by the majority of the district. In majority minority districts, like many of ours, this is especially important. RCV allows you to vote in support of the candidates you believe would best represent you, instead of against the candidate you oppose. RCV empowers voters by eliminating the possibility of a "spoiler" effect, allowing voters to express their true preferences.

The fact is RCV is a pro-voter reform that will lift up communities primarily made up of minority residents, while opening the door to first time candidates like many of us. Voters are smart, and they supported RCV with almost 75% of the vote: our job is to respect that decision. We have more than enough time to educate people on how to apply something they already do every day to the election. The change to RCV was an important factor for many of the candidates for municipal office from across the city in deciding to run for city council in 2021. In the midst of an economic crisis, RCV will save us money by eliminating costly run-off elections so we can put that money into social services our communities need.

If Councilmembers are genuinely concerned about educating voters, show us you care by voting to immediately pass Int 1994-2020 with an increase in funding to ten million dollars for voter outreach, instead of suing to delay this necessary reform that puts power back in the hands of the people where it rightfully belongs. When all partners in this process hold up their end of the bargain, from the City Council, Board of Elections, and Campaign Finance Board to civic education organizations like Common Cause and Rank the Vote, the voters will do their part and exercise their democratic rights, as they did in passing RCV. We are currently exploring legal options as the suit moves forward but as future leaders, we must put the city's interests first, and move forward with RCV to strengthen democracy in our communities."

Carlos Menchaca, Candidate

New York City Mayor

Dianne Morales, Candidate

New York City Mayor

Gigi Li, Candidate

City Council District 01 (Manhattan)

Jenny Low, Candidate

City Council District 01 (Manhattan)

Dennis Mihalsky, Candidate

City Council District 01 (Manhattan)

Tiffany Winbush, Candidate

City Council District 01 (Manhattan)

Erik Bottcher, Candidate

City Council District 03 (Manhattan)

Phelan Dante Fitzpatrick, Candidate

City Council District 03 (Manhattan)

Aleta LaFargue, Candidate

City Council District 03 (Manhattan)

Arthur Schwartz, Candidate

City Council District 03 (Manhattan)

Billy Freeland, Candidate

City Council District 05 (Manhattan)

Rebecca Lamorte, Candidate

City Council District 05 (Manhattan)

Kim Moscaritolo, Candidate

City Council District 05 (Manhattan)

Chris Sosa, Candidate

City Council District 05 (Manhattan)

Sara Lind, Candidate

City Council District 06 (Manhattan)

Jeffrey Omura, Candidate

City Council District 06 (Manhattan)

Marti G. Allen-Cummings, Candidate

City Council District 07 (Manhattan)

Daniel Cohen, Candidate

City Council District 07 (Manhattan)

Maria Ordoñez, Candidate

City Council District 07 (Manhattan)

Corey Ortega, Candidate

City Council District 07 (Manhattan)

Raymond Sanchez, Candidate

City Council District 07 (Manhattan)

Joshua Clennon, Candidate

City Council District 09 (Manhattan)

Kristin Richardson Jordan, Candidate

City Council District 09 (Manhattan)

Sheba Simpson, Candidate

City Council District 09 (Manhattan)

Angela Fernandez, Candidate

City Council District 10 (Manhattan)

Johanna Garcia, Candidate

City Council District 10 (Manhattan)

Eric Dinowitz Candidate

City Council District 11 (Bronx)

Jessica Haller, Candidate

City Council District 11 (Bronx)

Dan Padernacht, Candidate

City Council District 11 (Bronx)

Marcos Sierra, Candidate

City Council District 11 (Bronx)

Abigail Martin, Candidate

City Council, District 11 (Bronx)

Elisa Crespo, Candidate

City Council District 15 (Bronx)

Latchmi Devi Gopal, Candidate

City Council District 15 (Bronx)

Michael Beltzer, Candidate

City Council District 18 (Bronx)

Amanda Farias, Candidate

City Council District 18 (Bronx)

Darlene Jackson, Candidate

City Council District 18 (Bronx)

Mohammed N. Mujumder, Candidate

City Council District 18 (Bronx)

John Choe, Candidate

City Council District 20 (Queens)

Ingrid Gomez, Candidate

City Council District 21 (Queens)

Evie Hantzopoulos, Candidate

City Council District 22 (Queens)

Moumita Ahmed, Candidate

City Council District 24 (Queens)

Dilip Nath, Candidate

City Council District 24 (Queens)

Deepti Sharma, Candidate

City Council District 24 (Queens)

Shekar Krishnan, Candidate

City Council District 25 (Queens)

Carolyn Tran, Candidate

City Council District 25 (Queens)

Heajin Hailie Kim, Candidate

City Council District 26 (Queens)

Jesse Laymon, Candidate

City Council District 26 (Queens)

Alex Rias, Candidate

City Council District 26 (Queens)

Julie Won, Candidate

City Council District 26 (Queens)

David Aronov, Candidate

City Council District 29 (Queens)

Manuel Silva, Candidate

City Council District 31 (Queens)

Kaled Alamarie, Candidate

City Council District 32 (Queens)

Felicia Singh, Candidate

City Council District 32 (Queens)

Elizabeth Adams, Candidate

City Council District 33 (Brooklyn)

Victoria Cambranes, Candidate

City Council District 33 (Brooklyn)

April Somboun, Candidate

City Council District 33 (Brooklyn)

Michael Hollingsworth, Candidate

City Council District 35 (Brooklyn)

Crystal Hudson, Candidate

City Council District 35 (Brooklyn)

Regina Edwards, Candidate

City Council District 36 (Brooklyn)

Chi Ossé, Candidate

City Council District 36 (Brooklyn)

Christopher Durosinmi, Candidate

City Council District 37 (Brooklyn)

Rick Echevarría, Candidate

City Council District 37 (Brooklyn)

Sandy Nurse, Candidate

City Council District 37 (Brooklyn)

Alexa Avilés, Candidate

City Council District 38 (Brooklyn)

Shahana Hanif, Candidate

City Council District 39 (Brooklyn)

Briget Rein, Candidate

City Council District 39 (Brooklyn)

Brandon West, Candidate

City Council District 39 (Brooklyn)

Brian Cunningham, Candidate

City Council District 40 (Brooklyn)

Rita Joseph, Candidate

City Council District 40 (Brooklyn)

Wilfredo Florentino, Candidate

City Council District 42 (Brooklyn)

Anthony Beckford, Candidate

City Council District 45 (Brooklyn)

Selina Grey, Candidate

City Council District 49 (Staten Island)

Kim Council, Candidate

Brooklyn Borough President

Rob Ramos, Candidate

Brooklyn Borough President

Antonio Reynoso, Candidate

Brooklyn Borough President

Lindsey Boylan, Candidate

Manhattan Borough President

State Senator Brad Hoylman, Candidate

Manhattan Borough President

Council Member Mark Levine, Candidate

Manhattan Borough President

Background

RCV allows voters the opportunity to either rank 5 candidates in order of preference or vote for just one like they always have. If no one wins with a majority (more than 50%), the candidate that came in last is eliminated and voters' second choice votes get counted and so on until there's a majority winner. RCV will apply to primaries and special elections for all local offices including City Council, Borough President, Comptroller, Public Advocate and Mayor.

A 2018 Common Cause/NY study found that 64 percent of multi-candidate primaries in New York City were won with less than 50 percent of the vote, and not a single race with 4 or more candidates produced a majority winner. Candidates elected through Ranked Choice Voting will always win with a majority of the vote.

The Democracy Fund surveyed voters from ten cities, three where Ranked Choice Voting is in use and seven where it is not. The two year study found that voters in places with Ranked Choice Voting were happier with campaign conduct and experienced less negative campaigning than voters in places that do not use Ranked Choice Voting. A second comparative survey of voters in California in cities that do and do not use Ranked Choice Voting found that a majority supported adopting Ranked Choice Voting to improve election conduct. Other surveys conducted in California found major gains for people of color, increasing representation in majority-minority districts by 17 percent, multi-ethnic districts by 24 percent, and white majority districts by 9 percent. Ranked Choice Voting prevents the "spoiler effect," and encourages coalition building.

The 2019 campaign to bring Ranked Choice Voting to NYC was endorsed by: former Mayor David Dinkins (RIP), Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Congressman Jerry Nadler, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Comptroller Scott Stringer, State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, State Senator Brad Hoylman, State Senator Robert Jackson, State Senator Brian Kavanagh, State Senator Liz Krueger, State Senator Zellnor Myrie, State Senator Jessica Ramos, State Senator Gustavo Rivera, State Senator Julia Salazar, State Senator James Sanders, Jr., State Senator Luis Sepúlveda, Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, Assembly Member Catalina Cruz, Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, Assembly Member Ron Kim, Assembly Member Walter Mosley, Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, Assembly Member David Weprin, Former NYC Mayor David Dinkins, Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer, Council Member Costa Constantinides, Council Member Robert Cornegy, Jr., Council Member Rafael Espinal, Council Member Ben Kallos, Council Member Brad Lander, Council Member Stephen Levin, Council Member Mark Levine, Council Member Carlos Menchaca, Council Member Keith Powers, Council Member Antonio Reynoso, Council Member Carlina Rivera, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Council Member Helen Rosenthal, Council Member Paul Vallone, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, Zephyr Teachout, Cynthia Nixon, Bishop Orlando Findlayter, and Reverend Dr. Ray Blanchette.