Question 1 on the 2019 New York City ballot asked New Yorkers if they wanted to adopt Ranked Choice Voting for all municipal primary and special elections. It passed with 73% support.

Ranked Choice Voting is an alternative voting method that gives voters more voice, choice, and power in our political system. Voters rank candidates on their ballots in order of preference and if no candidate receives majority support of first place votes an “instant runoff” is used. In each runoff, ballots cast for the last place candidate are reassigned to the voter’s second ranked candidate on the ballot until one candidate earns 50% of the vote.

The electoral system eliminates the spoiler effect, encourages candidates to run positive campaigns, and ensures winners have majority support. In New York City, the reform has the potential to save the city millions of dollars each election cycle by avoiding costly runoff elections.