The upcoming NYC Mayoral Primary election may be one of the most important of our time!

There is much at stake.

  • The independence of our yeshivas
  • The fight against anti-semitism
  • Public safety
  • Support for our Jewish Values

Early voting ends this Sunday, June 22 and Primary Day is Tuesday, June 24.

Our Gedolim have said many times that it is an obligation to vote, it is critical that EVERY person 18 and older who is registered to vote does so.

Click here for a powerful video message on the importance of voting.

Since 2021 New York City has used a process called Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) for local primary and special elections for Mayor, Comptroller, Borough President, and City Council.

It it critical that you familiarize yourself with the RCV system so that you know what to do at the ballot box.

How the system works now

Under the traditional voting system, a voter sees a choice of candidates for an office and casts a ballot for one person. The votes are counted, and the candidate who earned the most votes wins the election. However, that person may not have won a majority of the vote.

For example, if five people run for mayor, the results could look like this:

While Candidate 1 won the most votes, he or she does not have a majority of the votes cast, meaning more than 50%. The more candidates that run, the more likely that the winner will NOT have a majority. This is relevant because in some elections a candidate is required to receive a majority (50% +1) of the votes to win, if this does not occur a runoff election is held.

How RCV works

With RCV, voters rank up to five candidates on the ballot. They assign their preferred candidate the number 1, their next favorite number 2, and so on up to five choices. The ranking process is fairly intuitive; people naturally rank their choices all the time, whether they’re discussing an election or deciding what to eat for dinner.

Sample Ballot:

The Board of Elections (BOE) then counts the votes to find a majority (50%+1) winner. If one candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, the election is done. However, if no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the candidate with the lowest vote count is then eliminated from the race, and the second-choice votes of their ballots are added to the tallies of the remaining 4 candidates.

In the example below, Candidate 5 would drop out. Voters who chose Candidate 5 as their first choice now have their votes distributed to their second-choice candidates. That could change the results to look like this: Candidate 1: 37%, Candidate 2: 27%, Candidate 3: 21%, Candidate 4: 15%. Notice that Candidate 5’s 10% is now distributed among the other contenders, narrowing the gap between Candidates 1 and 2. Since there is still no majority, the elimination process would continue until one candidate earns 50%+1.

Must a voter rank the full five candidates?

No, a voter can choose to rank between one and five candidates on the ballot. As long as a first-choice candidate is selected, the ballot is valid.

Does RCV give each voter more than one vote?

No, each voter still has only one vote. That one vote goes to the voter’s first-choice candidate. If the first-choice candidate is eliminated, the vote transfers to the second-choice candidate. The vote can continue to transfer if candidates are eliminated, but it never applies to two candidates at once.

Can a voter rank the same candidate more than once?

Yes, but it won’t help or hurt the candidate. The voter’s one vote goes to the first-choice candidate only. If that first choice is eliminated, only then will a second choice be considered. In this case, the voter’s second choice candidate is eliminated since it was the same as the first choice, and the voter’s vote is no longer counted.

Will choosing a 2nd (or 3rd, 4th, or 5th) place option hurt a voter’s first-choice candidate?

No. A voter’s vote will only transfer to another candidate if the first-place candidate is eliminated.

Will RCV delay election results?

No. The Board of Election will release unofficial first-round results on election night. However, there will still be a seven-day delay after the election for the final tally, but that’s due to counting absentee ballots, not to RCV.

Does the Board of Elections have the computers ready for an RCV election?

Yes, the computers that it already has can read the RCV ballots.

Do absentee ballots work in an RCV election?

Yes, a voter requests, fills out, and sends in an absentee ballot the same way as in a regular election.

For more voter resources go to Agudah.org/vote.