Watchdog Testimony to City Council Governmental Operations Committee On Ranked Choice Voting
On Ranked Choice Voting Implementation and Ballot Design
Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony for this hearing. Reinvent Albany is a watchdog organization that advocates for open and accountable government in New York.
Reinvent Albany strongly supports Ranked Choice Voting and Intro 696 of 2022 (Ung). New York City’s first ranked choice voting primary election last year was an overwhelming success – in exit polling by Edison Research, 90% of New Yorkers said RCV was easy to use, and 77% said they’d like to see RCV in future elections.
In combination with the City’s robust public campaign finance system, last year’s elections also produced the most diverse NYC Council in history – two thirds of the current City Council are people of color, up from 51%. Additionally, 61% are women, up from 27%. We believe that ranked choice voting played a major part in this.
However, the law could be improved to ensure a better RCV ballot design in future elections. Councilmember Sandra Ung’s Int. 696 makes the necessary updates and will help keep ranked choice voting simple for voters. See our attached memo of support.
If you have any questions, please contact Tom Speaker at tom@reinventalbany.org.
Click here to view the testimony as a PDF.