WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JUNE 10, 2021 7
NYC’s #1 Source for Political & Election News
Ranked-choice voting put to upcoming primary test
BY ARIEL PACHECO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Call it the one person, up
to five votes doctrine.
After rolling out
ranked-choice vot ing
(RCV) in special elections
in Queens and the Bronx
earlier this year, New York
City is poised to use it again
in the June 2021 primary
elections featuring races for
the offices of mayor, public
advocate, comptroller, borough
president and City
Council members.
RCV allows for voters to
rank up to five candidates
per office in order of preference
rather than voting for
just one candidate. If a candidate
receives more than
50 percent of the first-choice
votes, they are the winner.
If no candidate earns more
than 50 percent of the firstchoice
votes, then the votes
will 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 first
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 first, 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 five 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
first 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 officials 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
RCVin 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.
Early primary voting is
slated to Saturday, June 12
and run through Sunday, June
20. The primary is slated for
QNS fi le photo Tuesday, June 22.
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