History of Ranked Choice Voting
- Ranked Choice Voting is being used state-wide in Maine and Alaska, as well as in over 20 cities for local elections including New York City; San Francisco, CA; Boulder, Colorado; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
- Ranked Choice Voting is also being used in 7 states for military and overseas voters for run-off elections, and by Democrats and Republicans in 12 states to select their nominees for office.
- Internationally, since the early 1900s, ranked-choice voting has been used by millions of voters in Ireland to elect their president and in Australia to elect members of the national parliament.
Yes!
New York City used a form of Ranked Choice Voting for about ten years, from 1936 to 1945. This system led to the election of the first black Council member and its first and female City Council members.
For more, see: https://thefulcrum.us/voting/ranked-choice-voting-in-new-york
With Ranked Choice Voting, one person still has “one vote,” just as now. Under a Ranked Choice Voting, your vote always counts once—for your highest ranked candidate left in the race. So, in the first round of counting, your vote counts once for your first-choice candidate. But if your first-choice candidate gets eliminated, your vote then counts once for your second-choice candidate instead, and so on.
Internationally, since the early 1900s, ranked-choice voting has been used by millions of voters in Ireland to elect their president and in Australia to elect members of the national parliament. Here in the U.S., Ranked Choice Voting is being used state-wide in Maine and Alaska, as well as in over 20 cities for local elections—starting in NYC this year. The time is ripe for Ranked Choice Voting here in New York State, and we hope that you join us to help make it happen.
Mechanics of Ranked Choice Voting
One unique feature of the New York system of voting is the ability of voters who cast early ballots to come vote on Election Day. This does not mean they get to vote twice – it does mean that people who may regret their early vote – say, if a scandal breaks out before the election – to change their minds. When a voter submits an in-person ballot, their early vote is discarded.
However, there is a major drawback of this system. Since people can change their mind, New Yorkers must wait until Election Day to begin counting the ballots. In fact, New York allows counters to start counting up to 14 days after Election Day. This is all in an effort to prevent mistakes and ensure the integrity of our elections. In the era of the internet and instant communication, those long days after an election can feel like an eternity. What if there was a better way?
The good news is there is a better way; through the implementation of Ranked Choice Voting, or RCV. Ranked Choice Voting would allow New Yorkers to rank their preferred candidates in the order they think is best. Ranked Choice Voting streamlines the counting process and can make elections smoother, the tallying quicker, and the cost lower for the taxpayers.
You can vote for one candidate if you prefer, and your vote will count for that candidate. With that said, you can certainly rank a second or third candidate, and ranking additional candidates does not hurt your first choice.
An exhausted vote is one where the voter did not rank enough candidates to get to the next round of counting.
For example:
Your choices are Strawberry, Rocky Road, Chocolate, and Vanilla. You choose to only vote for Chocolate.
Strawberry gets 40%, Rocky Road gets 35%, Vanilla gets 20%, and Chocolate gets 5%.
No candidate gets a majority, so the instant runoff happens! Chocolate gets eliminated, and those votes go to their second-place candidate.
Because you did not vote for a second-place candidate, your vote is “exhausted.”
This is basically the same as choosing not to vote in the Runoff Election. Your vote still counts -- showing that you voted for a candidate that did not win, just like in any other election.
A batch elimination occurs when two or more candidates are removed from counting in a single round because those candidates have no chance of winning the election. For example, if there are 4 candidates in a race -- and two candidates have 1% of the vote each while two other candidates have 49% of the vote -- the two candidates with 1% of the vote can never win the election (because there are not enough votes that could be transferred to them to overtake the candidates with 49% of the vote). Batch elimination has no effect on the outcome and allows counting to proceed more efficiently.
Different jurisdictions allow for voters to rank different numbers of candidates. In New York City, voters are allowed to rank their top 5 choices. San Francisco recently expanded their Ranked Choice Voting ballots to allow everyone to rank their top 10 choices. Minnesota allows voters to rank every candidate on the ballot -- sometimes up to 20. It’s up to the local jurisdiction.
A recount would work the same way a recount works in our current system. And the accuracy of results under a Ranked Choice Voting recount is the same as under our current system.
Some places in New York already have runoff elections -- but they don’t have the Instant runoff.
In these elections, the jurisdiction must send and receive ballots multiple times: once for the first election, and then again for the runoff. But international mail takes time, so our nation’s Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Peace Corps; deployed members of our National Guard, Coast Guard, and Space Force; and other overseas citizens may not have time to receive, complete, and return a runoff ballot in time.
This time crunch is why federal law requires at least 45 days between rounds of voting in federal elections -- but even that may not be enough time. And many state and local runoff elections occur as little as one week after the first round -- effectively disenfranchising our military and overseas voters.
Remember, the question to address here is whether Ranked Choice Voting is better than the current plurality system. With Ranked Choice Voting, you get to rank up to five or more candidates. In our current system, you only get one. And in our current system, candidates can -- and do -- win with 25, 30% or 35% of the vote, especially when there are 5, 8, or 10 candidates running.
Under Ranked Choice Voting, it is possible that a winner may have less than 50% of the total votes cast -- because voters may not rank all the candidates. But, with Ranked Choice Voting, candidates must have broader support than under the current system, given that voters can rank multiple candidates -- so, with Ranked Choice Voting, candidates may win with 45%, 48%, 52% etc. Not always 50%, but far more than under the plurality system.
Ranked Choice NY’s goal is to bring Ranked Choice Voting to local and state elections across New York. We are at the beginning of building our statewide movement. Right now, we’re laser focused on educating New Yorkers about what Ranked Choice Voting is and how it will improve our elections. We will deal with other issues down the road. If you’re frustrated with our political system, with the candidates, and with campaigns, we hope that you join us and help give New Yorkers more choice and more voice by bringing Ranked Choice Voting to New York.
And if you’re interested in more technical information, please email us at outreach@rankedchoiceny.org. One of our in-house experts would love to talk to you!
Ranked Choice NY’s goal is to bring Ran ked Choice Voting to local and state elections across New York.
We are at the beginning of building our movement to accomplish that. Right now, we’re laser focused on educating New Yorkers about what Ranked Choice Voting is and how it will improve our elections. We will deal with other issues down the road. If you’re frustrated with our political system, with the candidates, and with campaigns, we hope that you join us and help give New Yorkers more choice and more voice by bringing Ranked Choice Voting to New York.
And if you’re interested in more technical information, please email us at outreach@rankedchoiceny.org. One of our in-house experts would love to talk to you!
Benefits of Ranked Choice Voting
The jury is out on that question, as the academic research is mixed on RCV's effects on campaigning. Some studies show that it may decrease negative campaigning, but other studies show no effect. We hope that Ranked Choice Voting, when fully adopted, contributes more to issue-focused campaigns rather than much of the negative campaigning we see today with our current plurality system.
The Spoiler Effect happens when two groups of like-minded voters get split between two or more candidates. Even though more people collectively support those similar candidates, a less popular candidate may still win because the popular vote got split! The “spoiler” candidate can also be a small third-party candidate drawing voters away from the major parties -- in a close race, the party with less support may win because of the small number of votes going to a single spoiler. With Ranked Choice Voting, we can empower voters to express their voice, while simultaneously protecting their ultimate choice!
Ranking candidates eliminates the Spoiler Effect because everyone can fully express their preferences. If a less popular candidate is your first choice, you can freely express your choice without fear that you are “stealing” a vote from the popular candidate -- you can just mark them as your second choice. You can also vote for your first choice without fear that you are “throwing away” your vote.
Run-off elections disenfranchise voters. Run-off elections require voters to go to the polls twice in the same election: once for the initial election and second for the runoff. Before implementing Ranked Choice Voting in New York City, it used run-off elections in primaries for city wide offices like Mayor and Public Advocate.
People shouldn’t have to go to the polls twice to vote in one election. With Ranked Choice Voting, there’s no need for a run-off election.
Ranked Choice NY Strategy / How You Can Help
Join us!
Ranked Choice NY is working to get Ranked Choice Voting adopted at the state level, and we need your help! Since we can’t get this through on a ballot initiative like Maine and Alaska, we need to get this through the legislature. And that means building a movement.
A movement requires three things: People, Money, and Endorsements.
We need People to help us get the work done and to keep the pressure on our Legislators!
Show your support by signing up to support and or volunteer: Click Here
And like every non-profit grassroots, we need financial buy-in from our supporters to fund our operating expenses (website, zoom account) and pay our staff (right now, we are all volunteers!).
Put your money where your mouth is by donating here: Click Here
We are also building a coalition of allied organizations across the state!
Sign up for one of our trained educators to come speak to your organization here: Click Here
Contact us to discuss other ways we can build the movement by emailing us here: outreach@rankedchoiceny.org
Ranked Choice NY’s goal is to bring Ranked Choice Voting to local and state elections across New York. To accomplish this, we have a two-tiered strategy.
- First, we are focusing on bringing Ranked Choice Voting to seven cities in New York State: Buffalo, Binghamton, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Poughkeepsie, and Long Beach. Here we will build our hubs for canvassing and outreach to local chapters, to help build our People, Money, and Endorsements. We are planning to use the media momentum from New York City’s primary in June to launch our Seven Cities hubs.
- Then, From there, we will spread outward to every single Assembly District of New York State. Our goal is to earn at least 500 supporters in every District.
Then, we will take all those people and start knocking on every door in the Legislature in 2023, to make it clear that We’re Here, and We’re Not Leaving Till We Get It Done.
Our goal is to get Ranked Choice Voting adopted in time for 2024.
We have! In fact, the Seven Cities are areas we have identified as likely to start Ranked Choice Voting initiatives of their own, at the city And county level, and we are here to support those local efforts. Specifically, our Policy & Research Team stands ready to help tackle tough questions. Our Speakers Team is always available to help educate voters in your district. Click Here to book a speaker.
Yes!
We are fortunate to live in the great state of New York, because our Constitution establishes Home Rule -- meaning local jurisdictions have the right to determine their own laws, including their own methods for electing their officials. You can find our legal research memo HERE.
Great! Your community is likely to do things its own way. We are here to help you explore ways to get Ranked Choice Voting adopted in your community. Contact us at outreach@rankedchoiceny.org, and we'll connect you with our Policy & Research group to find out how!
While all communities in New York can decide their own election laws, many communities simply follow current state election law. We are here to help you explore ways to get Ranked Choice Voting adopted in your community -- on the local, county, and/or state level! Contact us at outreach@rankedchoiceny.org, and we'll connect you with our Policy & Research group to find out how!
Other Methods / Improvements
While additional reforms are needed to improve our elections, Ranked Choice NY’s goal is to bring Ranked Choice Voting to local and state elections across New York. We’re laser focused on educating New Yorkers about what Ranked Choice Voting is and how it will improve our elections. If you’re frustrated with our political system, with the candidates, and with campaigns, we hope that you join us and help give New Yorkers more choice and more voice through Ranked Choice Voting.
Contact us at outreach@rankedchoiceny.org, and we'll connect you with our Policy & Research if you're interested in learning more!
We know there are other voting methods out there, and, in our view, Ranked Choice Voting is not only the best improvement -- but also the one most likely to be adopted. Indeed, in the past ten years, Ranked-Choice Voting has been adopted around the country, in Maine, Alaska, New York City, and many other cities. If you’re frustrated with our political system, with the candidates, and with campaigns, we hope that you join us and help give New Yorkers more choice and more voice through Ranked Choice Voting.