Mayoral + Comptroller Candidates Get Ready to Rank!

NEW YORK, NY (04/12/2021) (readMedia)-- Today, Mayoral candidates, including Dianne Morales, Comptroller candidates, including Brad Lander, David Weprin, Zach Iscol, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Assemblymember Ron Kim, Council Member Antonio Reynoso joined Rank the Vote NYC to rally for Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). In 60 days, voters will head to the polls to rank their ballots for the very first time. Voters overwhelmingly passed RCV in the fall of 2019, with 74% of the vote.

WATCH HERE.

"In just two months, New York voters will head to the polls, rank their ballots for the first time and elect candidates with majority support. This is a huge improvement over our old system. Ranked Choice Voting is easy to use too: 95% of Queens voters found the RCV ballot simple to understand, and 75% knew about RCV before heading to the polls. We will continue our education and outreach efforts, together with our outstanding community partners, to make sure all voters are fully empowered in June," said Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY.

For nearly a year, Rank the Vote NYC and Common Cause/NY have conducted a variety of voter education efforts throughout New York City to spread the word about RCV. Rank the Vote NYC has partnered with the Queens and Brooklyn Public Libraries, the Fortune Society, Meals on Wheels, Grow NYC, Food Bank for NY, National Restaurant Association, Latino Association of Restaurant and Bars, National Supermarkets Association, newspapers, local elected officials, civic groups, and more to produce forums, trainings and panels with candidates. So far, Rank the Vote NYC has sent mailings to voters in the Bronx and Queens special elections, and hosted close to 200 trainings, reaching over 7,000 individuals citywide, not including views captured from digital advertising. Trainings are ongoing. Explanatory materials are available in 13 languages and in large print versions, all downloadable from Rankthevotenyc.org, along with a New York specific explainer video. Rank the Vote NYC is also running educational digital ads that have reached 845,000 people so far, and growing by around 400,000 a month. The Rank the Vote NYC website is available in 13 languages including Korean, Spanish, Chinese and more.

And voters are getting it! 95% of voters stated they found the Ranked Choice Voting ballot simple to fill out and nearly 75% of voters stated they were familiar with RCV prior to voting, according to exit polling from the Queens special elections.

"Ranked-choice voting is a groundbreaking reform that will breathe new life into our democracy. I am a firm believer that it will give everyone a voice and ensure no community is ignored. Any person who wants to be mayor will have to talk to New Yorkers in all corners of the city and build a broad coalition to win this race - that's exactly how I'm running this race and how I'll continue to run it all the way through Election Day," said Mayoral candidate Scott Stringer.

"It is not lost upon me that Ranked Choice Voting has the potential to vote with their values. To move away from this old school establishment party politics and actually give people real choice," said Mayoral candidate Dianne Morales.

"As our City faces multiple, overlapping crises, this election will be one of the most consequential that we have ever had. June 22nd will be New Yorkers' first opportunity to use ranked choice voting in the process of selecting their next mayor. Helping voters understand their pivotal role in electing officials across the City and how rank choice voting works is crucial to this election. I want to thank Rank the Vote NYC for the work they are doing to educate voters and empower the people of New York to rank the vote and make their voices heard this June," said Mayoral candidate Kathryn Garcia.

"New Yorkers have important choices ahead of us this June, and it's great that voters will have the chance to rank their top candidates rather than choose between so many. Ranked choice voting is an opportunity to make our democracy better. Let's get ready to rank!" said Brad Lander, candidate for NYC Comptroller.

"This is arguably the most important election for New York City in a generation and the direction of this city is on the line," said David I. Weprin, candidate for NYC Comptroller. "In just over two months, New Yorkers will go to the polls and, for the first time in our city's history, we will use ranked choice voting to select not only their top choice for each job, but their second, third, fourth, and fifth choices. With ranked choice voting, the voice of every New Yorker will be heard and the work done by Rank the Vote is instrumental in ensuring that everyone is aware of the process and uses it to their full advantage."

"Ranked Choice Voting gives the voters of this great city more power to determine the future of our leadership, but as our primary election approaches, it's on our current leadership to ensure that the public is properly educated on the new system and equipped to make the most of their vote. As we emerge from a global pandemic, our next election is going to be an extremely important one -- we need to elect qualified leadership with the experience and drive to rebuild a stronger New York City for all," said NYC Comptroller Candidate Brian Benjamin.

"The 2020 election will determine whether the city will have the leadership it needs to come back from COVID-19. It is one of the most important city elections of our lifetime and New Yorkers must make their voices heard. Ranking your ballot is easy and it makes sure that we elect the best leaders this June," said NYC Comptroller Candidate Zach Ischol.

"Two years ago, 74% of New Yorkers voted to adopt Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). In two months, our city will have the chance to use an elections system that has proven to increase the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity of elected officials," said Theodore A. Moore, Senior Policy Director at the New York Immigration Coalition. "For many months, NYIC has been conducting RCV outreach, and from now until the end of the Primary on June 22, we'll be ramping up those efforts and reaching into every community in New York City to provide education and resources to better ensure every New Yorker, especially those whose first language is not English, are ready to rank their ballots."

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 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.

Ranked Choice Voting has led to less negative campaigning, prevents the "spoiler effect," and encourages coalition building. 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 whitemajority districts by 9 percent.