NEW YORK MAYORAL ELECTION: RANKED VOTING

Right now, the New York City mayoral election is underway. There are five candidates, all running to be the next mayor of America’s most populous city. However, the candidates aren’t the only reason this election is incredibly important. New York City is using a ranked voting system for this election, marking the first time a major city has done so.

What is ranked voting? Ranked voting is a system in which a person ranks their preference for each candidate, rather than just voting for their top choice. For example, if there were 3 candidates, a person would rank from 1 to 3 which candidate that they wanted the most and least. Reformers have pushed for this voting method for decades, saying it is a more equitable system. However, as in all systems, there are pros and cons.

One major pro is that the winner of the election has to have majority support. In usual elections, whoever has the most votes wins, but in ranked elections, there is no way to win without a majority of people marking you on their ballots. This leads to candidates having more positive campaigns, and allows candidates who are more broadly liked across the board to win.

A major con is that the system is incredibly complicated. Often, people don’t fill out ranked choice ballots correctly. In the eyes of opponents to ranked choice voting, this can lead to bad data, and a less democratic system. Whether ranked choice voting has a future as a major voting method in America depends on how it works during the election on Tuesday!

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