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!