| Judd Kessler | New York Daily News |
NEW YORK CITY — In June’s Democratic mayoral primary, a previously unknown state assemblyman and democratic socialist, Zohran Mamdani, beat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a surprise upset.
That race used ranked choice voting. Each voter could rank up to five candidates, and if a voter’s top choice received too few votes to be competitive, their support would transfer to the next candidate on their list. Before the primary, pundits expressed frustration over the voting system, echoing prior critiques. It’s too wonky! It’s too complicated for voters! Too many candidates stay in the race! Why can’t things be simpler?
But this general election, which does not use ranked choice voting, is anything but simple.
Letting voters’ voices be heard
This New York mayoral election — with ranked choice voting in the primary and without it in the general — has shown that this newer set of voting rules has major advantages in letting voters’ voices be heard.