NYC mayoral primary will be big test for ranked vote system
NEW YORK (AP) — Voters will likely pick the next mayor of New York City next week in a Democratic primary that will also be a major test of ranked choice voting, a system that lets voters rank several candidates in order of preference instead of choosing just one.
Two years after city voters approved a measure to use the ranked choice system for primaries and special elections, Democrats will be asked to rank their top five out of 13 mayoral candidates on Tuesday's ballot.
The primary winner will almost certainly win the November general election in overwhelmingly Democratic New York City.
If the process goes smoothly it may encourage other cities and states around the U.S. to consider ranked choice voting, which has been used for years in cities including San Francisco and Minneapolis and has been adopted by the states of Maine and Alaska.
"I hate to quote Frank Sinatra, but if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere," said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, which spearheaded the 2019 campaign for ranked choice.
Rob Richie, the executive director of FairVote, a national organization that promotes ranked choice voting, said he believes the implementation of the system in New York can accelerate acceptance.
"I think that New York, by being seen as going well, will be very reassuring to people," Richie said. "If it's seen as rocky, it'll just mean people will still ask questions."
Under New York City's system, ranked choice procedures only kick in if no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote. With such a large field of legitimate contenders, that's likely to happen this year in the Democratic primary.
Most recent polls have suggested that Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is the favorite, getting ranked first by a little less than a quarter of likely voters. Other top contenders include civil rights lawyer Maya Wiley, former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who have been polling between 6 and 12 points behind.