Tomorrow's RCV election in New York City

Dear John,

Tomorrow is the biggest ranked choice voting (RCV) election of the year, as New York City voters pick nominees for mayor, City Council, and other city offices. Here are some quick resources to make sense of RCV's impact on the NYC primary:

In Salon, FairVote’s David Daley and Deb Otis share how voters can make the most out of ranked choice voting. The TL;DR? Just rank your favorites!

“With ranked choice voting, there's no need for strategy. The basic principle is easy: Rank your favorite candidates, in order.”

Online practice ballot from nycvotes.org

Yesterday, the Washington Post editorial board showed how ranked choice voting is working as intended in New York City – helping pick a consensus winner and freeing voters from fear of spoilers:

“This is how ranked choice voting is supposed to work. It’s meant to encourage candidates to broaden their appeal and achieve consensus, rather than going negative. It also allows people to vote for their preferred candidate without worrying that they are voting for a spoiler.”

In a new article for The Fulcrum, Cynthia Richie Terrell of RepresentWomen and Ebonie Simpson of The New Majority NYC highlight how RCV has led to better representation for women in the Big Apple:

“Before 2021, New York’s 51-member council had always been majority male. Women hadn’t even gotten close to a majority. The best showing had been 18 seats, just a tick above 35 percent. That all changed with ranked choice voting (RCV). In 2021, voters elected not only a women-majority council but nearly doubled the previous high, with 31 seats.”

In this year’s NYC primaries, we’ve seen how RCV can change incentives and deliver better campaigns. Candidates are cross-endorsing each other, raising funds for one another, and talking about how their “opponents” could also help the city. FairVote has been tracking it all.

In our latest dispatch, Avram Reisman and Deb Otis highlight some of the most interesting races – including those for comptroller and several city council seats – and cover how RCV is making an impact.

(See FairVote’s earlier analyses from New York City in these articles, and watch a quick summary video about RCV in NYC here.)

Finally, we’re excited to share a new video highlighting Americans from across the political spectrum who have endorsed ranked choice voting. Check it out!

FairVote serves as the national backbone organization working to advance ranked choice voting at every level of government. A donation today furthers our ability to bring meaningful change to more voters. $10, $20, $50 or whatever you can contribute will move our work forward!

Sincerely,
Will Mantell
Director of Communications

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