Dear John,



Congratulations to the voters of New York City, who this week were able to participate in their first ranked choice voting primaries -- and the largest-ever American electorate for a ranked choice voting election. We look forward to an expansion to the general election that would affect all voters, but are thrilled with what has been a remarkable success story under real duress.



Election officials have already counted nearly 800,000 ballots and are slated to count at least 100,000 more absentee ballots in the coming weeks -- the most voters in a mayoral primary since 1989. New York is the 22nd jurisdiction to be using ranked choice voting today, with that number to soar to nearly 50 <[link removed]> this November.



FairVote has been a go-to resource for major media based on our years of experience and analysis. I had a featured guest essay in the New York Times on how to handle a ranked choice voting ballot and was interviewed on CBS This Morning. FairVote staff and our analysis were featured this week in the Associated Press, Washington Post, New York TImes, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, and ABC News. We were asked to help major pollsters with their ranked choice voting analysis, and partnered this week with Citizen Data on a poll <[link removed]>that helped inform the likely mayoral outcome and underscored just how ready New Yorkers were for RCV - and were far more likely to vote due to RCV than not.



While New York’s careful procedures for processing ballots means it won’t run the RCV tally until thisTuesday -- unlike many major cities that complete their RCV tallies on election night -- one conclusion is clear: New Yorkers embraced this change. Early exit polls of New York’s special elections <[link removed]> suggest that 95% of New York voters found ranking their ballots easy. Our own RCV polling indicates that more than half of New York voters may well rank their full ballot when selecting a mayor <[link removed]>.



While national focus has been on the mayoral primary -- where Eric Adams is favored to become New York’s second African American mayor -- there were other remarkable votes for change down ballot. In city council races women are likely to more than double their numbers on council for their first-ever majority, and there were countless examples of more cooperative campaigning and more efforts of candidates to get to know their full range of future constituents. The key to winning an RCV elections is just what you want it to be: seeking a combination of strong support as many people’s first choice with an ability to learn from and connect with the broader community in earning backup second, third and fourth choice support.



A large and diverse civic coalition partnered with New York CIty to make this possible. I wanted to give a special shout out to Common Cause NY <[link removed]> and Rank the Vote NYC <[link removed]>, who led advocacy efforts and voter education campaigns over the last two years. FairVote is thrilled to do wherever we can tgo support these organizations and hope you will as well. With this primary success, expanding ranked choice voting to general elections and more elections across the state are logical next steps for reformers.



Here’s just a small sample of exciting coverage of RCV’s rollout in New York City:





- Don’t Overthink Ranked-Choice Voting, New York City <[link removed]>, New York Times Editorial

- A Very Specific Guide to Ranking Candidates for N.Y.C. Mayor, <[link removed]> New York Times 

- CBS This Morning <[link removed]> coverage

- How ranked-choice voting could change the way democracy works <[link removed]>, Washington Post

- Eric Adams and the history of come-from-behind wins in ranked-choice races <[link removed]>, Washington Post

- Here’s How New Yorkers Feel About Ranked-Choice Voting <[link removed]> New York Times

- How Ranked-Choice Voting Can (Partially) Fix Democracy <[link removed]> Rolling Stone



This represents a massive moment for a reform that has become the nation’s most popular and most bipartisan <[link removed]>. We have seen the number of Americans with access to this reform soar just in the past year, including for presidential and congressional elections in two states. RCV was a success for Virginia Republicans in their nomination contests for governor and otherwise state offices this year, and now for Democrats in New York.The headline of Karen Tumulty’s column in the Washington Post last month fits: “Get used to ranked choice voting - it works <[link removed]>.”



We are not done yet, though. Ranked choice voting has proven its worth and it’s time to make it a standard for the rest of the country. We’re advocating for ranked choice voting in general elections to give room for independent and third party candidates to run without fear of vote-splitting. We want to help state and local allies win RCV for every state and municipal election across the country <[link removed]>. To take on what has broken our federal government, we’re investing in major coalition building in and outside of Congress for advancing RCV and seeking proportional RCV nationwide through the recent reintroduction of the Fair Representation Act <[link removed]>. 



Thanks to so many of you for being part of the movement for an American democracy that works for all of us and we hope to bring you additional good news soon. Onwards!



Best,



Rob Richie

President & CEO, FairVote

[link removed]







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