WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES FEBRUARY 4, 2021 13
Ranked-choice voting: A vital democratic reform
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 rankedchoice
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
first-place 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
OP-ED
reform will foster more positive,
issue-focused 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, low-turnout 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 rankedchoice
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 RepresentWomen
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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