FORUM: What Ranked Choice Voting Means for Voters w/ the Queens Public Library + Others

NEW YORK, NY (01/19/2021) (readMedia)-- Queens Borough Public Library will host a virtual forum on ranked choice voting (RCV) for voters on January 19 in partnership with Rank the Vote NYC in partnership with the NYU McSilver Institute, Chhaya, Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), MinKwon and the Northeast Queens Chapter of the NAACP. The event will be moderated by Dennis Walcott, President and CEO of Queens Borough Public Library. The following panelists will participate: Rose Pierre-Louis, Chief Operating Officer of the NYU McSilver Institute, Jagpreet Singh, Leader Organizer of Chhaya Community Development Corporation, Howard Wong, Civic Engagement Manager of CPC, Kenneth Cohen, President of the Northeast Queens Chapter of the NAACP, and Sandra Choi, Civic Participation Manager at MinKwon. The special election in Council District 24 will be the first election in New York City to use ranked choice voting and early voting will begin Saturday, January 23.

Press can join the forum here.

RCV allows voters the opportunity to either rank five candidates in order of preference or vote for just one like they always have. If no one wins with a majority (more than 50 percent), the candidate that came in last is defeated and voters' second choice votes get counted and so on until the top vote-getter of the final two is declared the winner. RCV will apply to primaries and special elections for all local offices including City Council, Borough President, Comptroller, Public Advocate and Mayor. Voters overwhelmingly passed RCV in the fall of 2019, with 74 percent of the vote.