NEW YORK — Proponents of ranked-choice voting are hailing the June primaries a success, citing a diverse crop of nominees to city offices.
But opponents are seeking to put its use to a referendum again, noting that approval two years ago, while overwhelming, was in a very low-turnout election.
What You Need To Know
- Supporters of new voting system point to polling, diversity in City Council wins
- Five City Council members want ranked-choice voting nixed via referendum in November
- System won't be used in this year's general elections or next year's state races
“We want to put it on the ballot in November this year, while it is fresh in the minds of voters, their experiences, good, bad or indifferent,” City Councilman I. Daneek Miller said.
Miller and four colleagues introduced the legislation before the primaries.
He was part of the coalition that sued unsuccessfully last December to halt the rollout of the new voting method.
Miller noted that though his choice for mayor, Eric Adams, was nominated and is on track to be the city’s second Black mayor, Adams’s lead shrank after second- through fifth-choice votes were tabulated.
“I wouldn’t say it was an exercise in futility; I would say that it did exactly what some folks intended for it to do,” Miller said.
Pressed for specifics, Miller added: “I don’t think that we should be looking for a system that diminishes the voice of a community, if they are a like-minded community.”
But defenders of ranked-choice voting, including some victorious candidates, reject the argument that it disenfranchises racial minorities.
Shekar Krishnan, who won his City Council primary in Queens, says the city can do more education on ranked-choice voting, including for immigrants and those whose first language is not English.
“But the reality is that we are seeing the most representative and diverse City Council that we’ve ever had in its history, and turnout that is far higher than it’s been in many other previous years, which to me says that ranked-choice voting really worked,” Krishnan said.
Additionally, exit polling conducted for Common Cause New York and Rank the Vote NYC showed 83% of voters ranked at least two candidates on their ballot, 77% of Black New Yorkers understood ranked-choice voting and 80% of Hispanic New Yorkers did, too.
Debbie Louis, lead organizer for Rank the Vote NYC, offered anecdotal evidence, too:
“Everyone that I’ve spoken to when I was on the ground really liked this and I went into communities of color,” she said.
Miller countered that he witnessed confusion in his southeast Queens district.
“Voters at large, but in particular seniors, voiced their dismay,” he said.
Whatever the fate of the legislation, New Yorkers will get a break from choosing candidates via ranked-choice voting in the November general elections, which will be decided the old way.
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