Victory for New York Voters! Ranked Choice Voting Advances to November Ballot

NYC Charter Revision Commission voted to put ranked choice voting for all city offices for primary and special elections on Nov Ballot

NEW YORK, NY (06/13/2019) (readMedia)-- Last night the New York City Charter Revision Commission voted to put ranked choice voting for all city offices for primary and special elections on the November ballot.

In response, Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY issued the following statement:

"The Charter Review Commission's decision to approve Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is a victory for New York City voters. RCV will change the way candidates campaign for office and give voters more options in a crowded race. RCV is already a success in San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Santa Fe where it's lifted up new voices while also encouraging consensus. Common Cause/NY looks forward to working with the Commission to craft charter and ballot language and educate New Yorkers about the benefits of voting yes on RCV in November."

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.

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

In the last three election cycles in New York City, sixty-three percent of multi-candidate primaries were won with less than 50% of the vote, 30% were won with less than 40%, and nearly 10% were won with less than 30%. In 2021, close to 70% of the New York City Council members, and all five borough presidents, the Comptroller and Mayor, will be term limited. The New York City Campaign Finance Board is already anticipating the opening of at least 500 campaign committees, which averages to 12 candidates per race.

"The Commissions passage of the Ranked choice voting proposal is evidence of the growing grassroots movement of people who are tired of politics as usual in New York, and want to see bold and impactful change to our elections." said Alexander Egan, Represent New York volunteer.