Ranked Choice Voting put to test
Here’s what you need to know ahead of primary early voting
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What the new RCV ballot will look like. NYC Board of Elections
Caribbean Life, JUNE 11-17, 2021 15
NYC’s #1 Source for Political & Election News
BY ARIEL PACHECO
Call it the one person, up to fi ve
votes doctrine.
That’s after New York City is poised
to roll out ranked-choice voting (RCV)
in a big way in the June 2021 primary
elections including for the offi ces of
mayor, public advocate, comptroller,
borough president, and City Council
elections.
RCV allows for voters to rank up to
fi ve candidates per offi ce in order of
preference rather than voting for just
one candidate. If a candidate receives
more than 50 percent of the fi rstchoice
votes they are the winner. If no
candidate earns more than 50 percent
of the fi rst-choice votes, then the votes
will then be tallied in rounds.
At the conclusion of each round,
the candidate with the fewest votes
will be eliminated. If the eliminated
candidate had been the fi rst choice
on a ballot, the vote then transfers
to whoever was the second-choice on
the ballot. The process continues until
there are two candidates left. The
candidate with the most votes is the
winner.
Voters are allowed to vote for just
one candidate – dubbed a bullet ballot
– and leave the rest of the ballot blank
but are only allowed to vote for one
candidate for each column. If a voter
ranks the same candidate as their
fi rst, second, third, etc. choice, it will
still only count as one vote as it is the
same as leaving the second and third
choice blank.
Voters also do not have to vote for
fi ve candidates. Voters will also still
be able to vote for write-in candidates.
There is a “write-in line” on the ballot
with an oval that will indicate where
the voter wants to rank the write-in
candidates.
RCV is a variation of the one person,
one vote doctrine fi rst coined in
Britain in 1880, but in America it relates
more to redistricting congressional
lines. In 1964, Wesberry v. Sanders,
the U.S. Supreme Court declared
that equality of voting – one person,
one vote – means that “the weight and
worth of the citizens’ votes as nearly
as is practicable must be the same.”
and ruled that states must also draw
federal congressional districts containing
roughly equal represented
populations.
RCV, on the other
hand, was implemented
with the argument
to help improve
the representation
of the voting system
while also helping
to cut down on negative
campaigning between
candidates. It
allows voters to have
more say in who their
elected offi cials are,
the argument holds.
Ranked-choice voting
is already in use
in many places across
the country such as
Minneapolis, Maine,
and Oakland. The reviews
of RCV in some of these municipalities
have been mixed.
City voters approved RCV in a 2019
ballot measure with 73.5 percent of
people voting yes for ranked-choice
voting.
RCV was already utilized recently
in a few special city council elections
in Queens and the Bronx. While there
were no reported complaints of fraud,
it took weeks past the election day to
get results. Voters will likely see a
similar scenario play out in many upcoming
primary races with no determined
winner.
Early primary voting is slated
to start this Saturday, June 12 and
run through Sunday, June 20. The
primary is slated for Tuesday, June
22.
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