OP-ED
RANKED-CHOICE VOTING IS A
VITAL DEMOCRATIC REFORM
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | FEB. 5-FEB. 11, 2021 13
BY BETSY GOTBAUM AND
ROSE PIERRE-LOUIS
Last fall, New York City
voters decided they had
enough of politics as usual,
and voted overwhelmingly
to approve ranked-choice
voting.
Rather than just choosing
one candidate on their ballot,
voters will now be able to
rank up to five candidates in
order of their preference. If
no candidate wins a majority
of first-place votes, the candidate
with the fewest firstplace
votes is eliminated.
On the ballots that have the
eliminated candidate ranked
first, the vote now goes to the
candidate who was ranked
second. This continues until
one candidate has a majority
of the vote.
Already implemented
in several cities across the
country, this reform will
foster more positive, issuefocused
campaigns, give voters
more choice, and force
candidates to appeal to a
broader spectrum of their
constituents. It will also
mean the end of costly, lowturnout
runoff elections.
Ranked-choice voting
would be a major change to
the way we conduct elections,
and meaningful reform is always
met with trepidation.
Some elected officials are
calling for the implementation
of ranked-choice voting
to be delayed, claiming that
there isn’t enough time to
educate voters about this reform,
particularly in a global
pandemic.
The Campaign Finance
Board should conduct a robust
public education to prepare
voters for next year’s
elections, and the City
Council should allocate the
funding needed for that campaign.
Because voters were
concentrating on the 2020
elections, it would have been
impossible to inform them
about an election in 2021.
There are also claims that
ranked-choice voting would
further disadvantage groups
historically underrepresented
in elected office. The
truth is, there is evidence
to suggest that women and
people of color actually have
better electoral outcomes
under ranked-choice voting.
A 2020 study by Represent-
Women found that 46 percent
of all mayors and 49 percent
of all City Council seats decided
by ranked-choice voting
are held by women. A
2019 study from FairVote
examining San Francisco,
Oakland, San Leandro and
Berkeley – four racially diverse
cities in the Bay Area
-– shows that the adoption
of ranked-choice voting in
those municipalities has led
to more people of color winning
elections.
Ranked-choice voting will
ensure that the voices of all
of New York City’s diverse
communities are heard. At
a time when we are bitterly
divided, we need to begin
to improve the tone of our
politics. This reform passed
with the support of 73 percent
of New York City voters
just last year. Ranked-choice
voting is as vital a democratic
reform now as it was when
New Yorkers overwhelmingly
voted to implement it over
a year ago, and the city has
an obligation to fulfill the
will of the voters.
Betsy Gotbaum is the executive
director of Citizens
Union and the former NYC
Public Advocate. Rose Pierre-
Louis is the chief operating
officer of the NYU McSilver
Institute and the former
Manhattan Deputy Borough
President.
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