Today, there is a very important mayoral primary election taking place in NYC. But, that is not the only newsworthy thing happening there. NYC is using a new and different type of voting that could affect many elections in the future – ranked-choice voting. This system allows voters to list their favorite candidates in order. Usually, voters just list their top choice in voting. Now, some info on ranked-choice voting. NYC is having people list their top 5 favorite candidates in order, though people don’t actually have to list all 5.
The steps to this type of voting are: First, all of the first choice votes are counted, and if someone gets 1 more vote than exactly 50%, then they win the entire election. Next, if no-one gets the 50% plus 1, then round 2 starts. Then, the person with the lowest number of votes from round 1 is eliminated, and then the second choice votes are distributed. All of the votes for the candidate that was eliminated are equally split up between the rest of the candidates. Finally, this keeps on happening until someone gets 50% plus 1 of all of the votes.
Did you know this?
People have been pushing for ranked-choice voting for years, saying it is a more accurate way of deciding which candidate the voters want more.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2021/06/
