Partnership for New York City Comes Out Strong for Ranked Choice Voting

NEW YORK, NY (05/28/2019) (readMedia)-- Late last week, the Partnership for New York City submitted comments to the New York City Charter in support of ranked choice voting (RCV): a consensus driven system that would allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference, instead of a winner take all model.

"Ranked choice voting pushes a candidate to try to reach beyond their base in order to attract more voters. The result is elections where the winners more truly represent their districts. Election of office holders with a broad constituency is likely to inspire larger voter turnout. We are hopeful that this system will improve the civility of campaigns. Finally, ranked choice voting may also save the city money. At a minimum, it would avoid expensive run-off elections like the 2013 Democratic primary run-off for Public Advocate which cost more than $11 million," wrote the Partnership for New York City in their comments to the Charter Commission.

Read the full comments here.

In 2021, 70% of the City Council will be term limited, as well as all five borough presidencies, Comptroller Scott Stringer and Mayor Bill de Blasio. The New York City Campaign Finance Board expects at least 500 campaigns to register for the 2021 cycle -- that's a minimum of 12 candidates per race. Ranked choice voting would help create consensus, lessen negative attacks, and save tax dollars.

Ranked choice voting allows voters to express their preferences for a variety of candidates by ranking their first five choices. If on election day when all the first-choices are counted there is one candidate who collects a majority of the vote, that candidate wins. If there's no majority, then the last-place candidate is eliminated and their votes re-allocated according to voter preferences. The process is repeated until there's a majority winner. The Partnership for New York City's, along with other groups like Common Cause/NY, proposal would implement Ranked Choice Voting for all NYC primary and special elections, including primary races for city council and citywide offices.

Other cities like San Francisco, Minneapolis and Santa Fe, have implemented ranked choice voting to revolutionize the way candidates campaign.

Ranked choice voting also helps change the composition of what our government looks like. According to a study done by Fair Vote, in the four Bay Area cities that use ranked choice voting, candidates of color have won 62% of those races, as compared to only 38% prior.

The NYC Charter Revision Commission will vote on a final slate of proposals in June that voters will ultimately approve or reject on the November ballot.