Rank the Vote NYC Gets Out the Vote in Priority Neighborhoods Across The City

NEW YORK, NY (06/16/2021) (readMedia)-- Rank the Vote NYC, partner organizations, and over 100 volunteers are getting out the vote by canvassing priority neighborhoods across the five boroughs. Canvassers and volunteers are also stationed at many early voting sites, answering voters' questions and distributing literature about ranked choice voting.

Get out the vote canvassing began Monday, June 7, and will continue through Election Day. Partner organizations include the New York Immigration Coalition, Chinese American Planning Association, Chhaya, Dominicanos USA, NAACP NYC, MinKwon, Black Health, City Harvest, Food Bank for New York, NALEO Educational Fund, My Vote, UNH, and African American Clergy and Elected Officials.

Priority Neighborhoods for GOTV

Manhattan: Harlem, Washington Heights, Lower East Side, Chinatown

Bronx: Highbridge, Motthaven, Hunts Point, Tremont, Castle Hill, Soundview, Edenwald, Morrisania

Brooklyn: East New York, Brownsville, Bed-Stuy, Flatbush, Sunset Park, Bushwick, Crown Heights, Coney Island

Queens: South Ozone Park, Elmhurst, Queens Chinatown, Jackson Heights

Staten Island: North Shore

"We've hosted over 500 trainings and partnered with 750 organizations, reaching almost one million people across the city to get New Yorkers ready to rank," said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/NY and Chair of Rank the Vote NYC. "Now, we're going door to door talking about the many benefits of ranked choice voting. It's finally time to rank the vote and we're confident New Yorkers will reap the rewards of having more choice and more voice "

"Now that it's time to rank the vote, we're making sure New Yorkers in every corner of the city are prepared and ready," said Luke Hayes, Rank the Vote NYC Campaign Manager. "When we connect with voters, the response is overwhelmingly enthusiastic. New Yorkers are excited about their greater opportunity to make their voices heard."

Background

In a new poll released this week, 74% of respondents ranked more than one choice for mayor. And according to a recent NY1/Ipsos poll, 80% of voters are comfortable using ranked-choice voting.

RCV allows voters the opportunity to rank up to five candidates in order of preference. If no one wins with more than 50 percent of first-choice votes, the candidate that came in last is eliminated and their voters' second choice votes are distributed. This process repeats until there's a majority winner.

74% of New Yorkers voted to adopt ranked choice voting.

While a voter may choose to vote for only one candidate, they have the opportunity to rank up to five. The more candidates a voter ranks, the more say the voter has in picking who will represent them. RCV may pose new challenges for campaigns, but what's more important is that voters want to rank, and they're ready to do it. In the four special elections earlier this year, voters in CD 15 - a majority Black and Latino district -- ranked the most candidates.

In exit polling from the special elections earlier this year:

• 95% of voters stated they found the RCV ballot simple to fill out
• 75% of voters stated they were familiar with RCV prior to arriving at the polls
• 70% of voters took advantage of RCV and ranked more than one candidate
• There was no statistically meaningful difference between ethnic groups' understanding of RCV :
  • 94% of Black voters found their ballot simple to complete.
  • 97% of Asian voters found their ballot simple to complete.
  • 97% of Hispanic voters found their ballot simple to complete.
  • 97% of white voters found their ballot simple to complete.