Let’s start off with the basics.
What is Ranked Choice Voting, or RCV? It’s pretty much what it sounds like! When you go to the ballot box, instead of having to select one candidate, you can RANK the candidates in order of preference. If a candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, then that candidate wins full-stop. BUT, if no one candidate wins a majority of the vote, the last-place candidate is eliminated and the voting continues. Rinse & repeat until a clear winner emerges.
If you’ve ever struggled with choosing between the candidate that you really want and the candidate that you think is most likely to win, during a primary election, then RCV is the answer to that dilemma. With RCV, you can rank both candidates, which gives you and your fellow voters more say in the primary process.
The issue of primarying our electeds can be contentious but putting that aside, giving voters more choices to mitigate the effects of our two-party system will be a good thing, we believe.
RCV is already in effect in NYC, and now there is an effort to bring it to the City of Albany, and eventually to our county.
Thank you to Riley Hart of Unite NY for coming to speak to us about ranked choice voting and other election reforms.
Riley shared a 30 minute of clip of Majority Rules with us, which you can watch on YouTube.
Learn more about Unite NY and get involved by visiting their website.