Excerpts:
* In the 2019 off-year election here in New York City, there was almost
no reason to bother to vote. There were no elections on the ballot
for any significant political office, whether federal, state, or
local. But they took the occasion to put to the voters five
propositions to amend the New York City Charter. One of those
propositions provided for replacement of then-current voting
procedures with a complicated “ranked choice voting” (RCV) system.
Nobody can remember what the other four Charter amendment
propositions were about. (Go here if you are curious.)
* Throughout New York City in the recent election, voters had to
contend with multiple races with five or ten or even more candidates
running. In my own district, besides the race for Mayor, there was a
race for City Comptroller, one for Manhattan District Attorney, and
another one for City Councilman. All had large fields for voters to
learn about and then rank.
* The newly-proposed system in 2019 seemed overly complicated to me,
and I didn’t see what was wrong with the occasional runoff. But RCV
was pitched as a form of “instant runoff.” It won with about a 3-1
majority.
* Now we have just had our first experience with the new system.
Read on »
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