NEW YORK - Six City Council members and nearly a dozen community groups have filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the roll-out of ranked-choice voting in next year’s elections.
The lawmakers — all members of the council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus — have said the implementation of the new voting format is too hasty and is unfair to minority and senior voters.
Ranked choice voting is to be put to its first test in New York City in a February 2 City Council special election.
Council members Adrienne Adams, Alicka Ampry-Samuel, Robert Cornegy, Laurie Cumbo, Farah Louis and Daneek Miller allege in their legal complaint that the city Board of Elections and city Campaign Finance Board haven’t prepared for the vote and educated the public enough.
"A voter’s ability to understand the ballot is fundamental to the ability to cast his or her vote,” they write, in the complaint filed late Tuesday in New York County Supreme Court.
They allege that using ranked-choice voting in February would be a violation of the city charter, the Voting Rights Act and state election law.
A Board of Elections spokeswoman said the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation. She added: “However, as we have previously stated we will be ready to implement ranked choice voting just as we successfully implemented a new voting system in 2010 and launched Early Voting in 2019.”
Campaign Finance Board executive director Amy Loprest said the agency has been preparing all year. "Throughout the 2020 elections, we provided community organizations with educational training and materials to empower voters to cast their ballots by mail or during Early Voting,” she said. "We plan to build upon those successful partnerships for ranked choice voting."
With ranked-choice voting, candidates on the ballot are ranked according to preference from one to five. If no contender earns a majority of the vote, the worst performer is eliminated and his or her votes redistributed. The process continues until a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.
The format was approved by referendum in November 2019 with 73% of the vote. But the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus has noted that election’s low turnouts saying 73% of the 10% of the city’s electorate isn’t a mandate.
Council Member Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn), a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said Monday at the council oversight hearing that she would do everything in her power to postpone the implementation of ranked-choice voting.
“And it’s going to be too difficult to explain to our communities, similar to the Electoral College, how the person with the most votes did not win the election,” she said, referencing first-place votes.
On the other end of the argument, other non-white council members and community leaders have said they believe Black and Latino voters are ready for the new system.
Bertha Lewis of the Black Institute said: “Let me say it plainly: Black voters are not stupid. It is insulting to say that they will not be able to understand Ranked Choice Voting.”
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Six Council Members File Suit to Delay Rollout of Ranked-Choice Voting - Spectrum News NY1
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