New Yorkers are Ready To Rank the Vote

NEW YORK, NY (12/07/2020) (readMedia)-- Today, Common Cause/NY Executive Director Susan Lerner and Rank the Vote NYC Education Campaign Program Director Sean Dugar testified before the New York City Council about Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) ongoing voter education and implementation. Before the hearing, Common Cause/NY, Rank the Vote NYC, the New York City Campaign Finance Board and Council Member Antonio Reynoso held a press conference zoom to outline existing preparations for RCV and discuss voter education efforts.

Watch the presser here.

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. Voters, who overwhelmingly passed RCV in the fall of 2019, will first use it in a Queens special election in early February.

"New Yorkers overwhelmingly passed Ranked Choice Voting in 2019 because they understand that it gives them more choice and more voice, while putting power back in the hands of the people where it belongs. We have more than six months to educate voters on how to rank, which is a lifetime compared to the changes voters experienced this spring and fall. Voters are smart, and capable as we've found in our dozens of trainings that reach thousands of people. It's up to the City Council to support those efforts -- not thwart them -- by passing Int 1994 as soon as possible," said Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY.

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.

"I think there's a misconception that NYC voters -- specifically Black and Brown voters -- are not intelligent enough to figure out Ranked Choice Voting. I take offense to that. Folks know who they're voting for and how they're voting. With the amount of candidates running in the city, the amount of money that is going to be infused into campaigns, specifically to educate voters so they can get their fist, second or third choice votes, is going to be second to none. The responsibility to educate voters falls on candidates. It is my job to make sure that the people who want to vote for me know exactly how to do that. I believe there will be many folks educating voters and it's on candidates too. I am confident that it's going to be a success. I would not want to undo the will of the voters," said Council Member Antonio Reynoso.

"As someone who has spent over a decade and a half working for the NAACP, I am very suspicious anytime someone suggests that Black and Brown people are supposedly unsuited or unable to understand something that White people can. It's not only insulting but untrue. Voters understand perfectly well how to rank their preferences, regardless of their race. Unequivocally, RCV provides voters with more choice and more voice and that most certainly includes Black voters. All of this underscores the importance of aggressive civic education. There's no question in my mind that we can get it done," said Sean Dugar, Director of Education and Outreach for Rank the Vote NYC.

A 2019 peer reviewed study published in Social Science Quarterly by Todd Donovan, Caroline Tolbert, and Kellen Gracey analyzed survey data from 5 Bay Area cities: Berkeley, Oakland, San Leandro and San Francisco - and the comparable non-RCV cities of Alameda, Richmond, Stockton, Anaheim, Santa Ana and San Jose, California to examine whether there are racial disparities in voter understanding.

• In terms of understanding voting instructions for RCV, there were "no differences... between whites and people of color."
• There were "no differences in RCV cities in how whites, African Americans, and Latinx respondents reported "understanding" the system.
• And the exit polling shows that voters in RCV cities are satisfied with the experience.

A 2004 San Francisco State University exit survey found that after RCV was first implemented:

• 87% of voters said they understood the system "well"
• 61% said they preferred RCV to the old system
• And 69% said they knew how to rank candidates even before coming to vote

Rank the Vote NYC has held dozens of training sessions throughout the five boroughs about ranked choice voting, how it works, and its impact on elections. The trainings have ranged from ones specifically for women of color to civil service and labor to good government. Rank the Vote NY has partnered with local political clubs including Four Freedoms Democratic Club and Lambda Independent Democrats, as well as The Black Institute and NALEO Educational Fund to name a few. So far over 200 candidates, staff, and partners have participated. Trainings remain ongoing.

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 campaign to bring Ranked Choice Voting was been endorsed by: 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, Associate Professor of Law at Fordham University, former candidate for NY Attorney General, Cynthia Nixon, Actor and Activist, Bishop Orlando Findlayter, and Reverend Dr. Ray Blanchette.