Caribbean voices for
Ranked Choice Voting
Caribbean L 6 ife, NOVEMBER 1-7, 2019
By Nelson A. King
This fall, Ranked Choice Voting
(RCV) will be on the ballot as question
one, according to Becky Stern of
Common Cause / NY.
She told Caribbean Life that Ranked
Choice Voting would apply to all local
offices for primary and special elections,
including New York City Council,
mayor, comptroller, public advocate
and borough president.
Stern said voters will be able to
cast their ballots early, starting Oct.
26 – Nov. 3 at select poll sites and on
Election Day, Nov. 5, at their regular
poll site.
“Ranked Choice Voting gives voters
the option to rank their top five
candidates in primary and special
elections,” Stern said.
“If voters still want to
vote for just one candidate,
they can.
“A candidate who collects
a majority of the
vote, 50 percent plus
one, wins,” she added.
“If there’s no majority
winner, the last place
candidate will be eliminated
and voters who
ranked that candidate
first have their ballots
instantly counted for
their second choice preference.
The process is
repeated until there’s a
final pair with a majority
winner.
Haiti District Leader
Joshua Pierre, who is a
candidate for the 21st
Senatorial District in
Brooklyn, said: “In our local elections,
Public Advocate, Jumaane
D. Williams.
we often have multiple qualified
candidates of color running for
one seat.
“With Ranked Choice Voting, we
can support as many as we want
without worrying about splitting the
vote,” he said. “RCV is a win-win for
our community and all New Yorkers.
Join us and vote yes on 1 this election
season.
Minister Patricia Malcolm of
Churches United to Save and Heal
(CUSH), said Ranked Choice Voting
“will help my community by ensuring
we have an electoral system
that allows people to vote their conscience.
“In too many instances, we are
forced to vote for the lesser of two
evils, instead of those candidates that
truly represent us at our core,” she
said. “I look forward to passing this
ballot proposal on Nov. 5.”
Public Advocate, Jumaane D. Williams
said Ranked Choice Voting is
“an efficient and effective way New
York City can improve its outdated
election laws, help end voter suppression
and save taxpayer dollars.
“As this campaign launches today,
I proudly support the initiative and
will push for its implementation,” he
said. “It’s time to Rank the Vote!”
Stern noted that, in 2021, 70 percent
of the City Council will be termlimited,
as well as all five borough
presidents, Comptroller Scott Stringer
and Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The Campaign Finance Board predicts
that at least 500 candidates will
be competing for open seats, meaning
up to 12 candidates vying for all
open seats, Stern noted.
She also pointed to a Common
Cause study that found that 64 percent
of multi-candidate primaries
were won with less than
50 percent of the vote.
“Candidates elected
through Ranked Choice
Voting will always win
with a majority of the
vote,” Stern said.
She said that surveys
conducted in California
found major gains for
people of color, increasing
representation in
majority-minority districts
by 17 percent,
multi-ethnic districts
by 24 percent, and white
majority districts by
nine percent.
“Ranked Choice Voting
prevents the ‘spoiler
effect,’ which is one candidate
splits vote with
another, and encourages
coalition building,”
Stern said.
She said that more than 94 percent
of Santa Fe voters polled during that
city’s first ranked choice voting election
in 2018 said they were satisfied
with their voting experience.
More than 84 percent of voters
reported that the new RCV ballot was
not confusing, according to Stern.
She said Ranked Choice Voting
is also easy to understand, referring
to the Democracy Fund, which
surveyed voters from 10 cities, three
where Ranked Choice Voting is in use
and seven where it is not.
The two year study found that voters
in places with Ranked Choice Voting
were happier with campaign conduct
and experienced less negative
campaigning than voters in places
that do not use Ranked Choice Voting,
Stern said.
She said a second comparative survey
of voters in California in cities
that do and do not use Ranked Choice
Voting found that a majority supported
adopting Ranked Choice Voting to
improve election conduct.