Latest news with #rankedchoice
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
New candidates enter Santa Fe City Council, mayoral races
This could be a historic moment for Santa Fe: For the first time, a City Council race other than District 1 appears headed toward a ranked-choice vote. The District 2 race now has four candidates with an announcement Tuesday that consultant and former state government employee Aurora Martinez is running. Incumbent Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth is not seeking a third term. Another mayoral candidate, Jeanne O'Dean, has also entered the race, bringing that field up to eight. Since the city first implemented ranked-choice voting in 2018, only mayoral and council District 1 races have had enough candidates for it to take effect. Unless a flurry of late-declaring candidates enter the race on the city's south side by the Aug. 26 filing deadline, the balance of candidates across the city is shaping up to be significantly lopsided. District 1 has three declared City Council candidates, and District 2 has four. But District 4 incumbent Amanda Chavez and District 3 incumbent Lee Garcia are both currently running uncontested, raising questions about whether residents in the area will be motivated to turn out. The south side has historically had the lowest voter participation in Santa Fe. A news release from Martinez states she believes Santa Fe 'can grow without losing its soul' and that her campaign will emphasize 'affordability, inclusive governance, and the protection of cultural heritage.' In a Thursday interview, she said she is running to advocate for her community and if elected would work to strengthen transparency and financial oversight at the city. 'I want to give that voice to people because there's so many complaints of 'Are you really listening?' ' she said. Martinez lives in the Hopewell Mann neighborhood with her 10-year-old son. A native Santa Fean, she moved away from New Mexico after high school, later returning to Albuquerque, where she earned a degree from the University of New Mexico and began working for the state Children, Youth and Families Department. Struggling to make ends meet as a single parent, she moved back to Santa Fe when her son was a baby into a home built by her grandfather in the 1950s. 'That neighborhood has always been a major part of my life because growing up, we knew everyone down the street,' Martinez said. But when she moved back, 'there were one or two people left.' She said gentrification in the area along with increased crime and homelessness helped her decide to run for City Council, and friends and neighbors encouraged her. 'I'm not a politician,' she said. 'I'm usually not in the forefront; I'm usually in the back, doing all the work.' Along with CYFD, Martinez has also worked for the state departments of Transportation and Finance and Administration. She struck out on her own several years ago, creating the project development firm Noonen-Martinez Consulting Inc. with business partner Sean Noonen. She said she believes her background in government work would serve her well on the council. 'I want to provide suggestions to my constituents and say, 'Here's a bunch of solutions, here's some models that we can do,' and in a way that they can interpret, because that's what I do,' she said. Martinez is using private funding (the deadline to qualify for public funding has passed) and said she has no campaign manager. This is her first foray into politics but she currently serves on the city's Public Safety Committee and served as a Resilient Community Advisory Council Member for United Way from 2023 to 2024, according to the release. Along with advocating for transparency, she said crime, affordable housing and homelessness will be pillars of her campaign. Martinez is joined by fellow District 2 candidates Paul Bustamante, Liz Barrett and Leroy Trujillo. In the mayoral race, new addition O'Dean declined to be interviewed until she has collected enough signatures to be certified as a candidate. O'Dean spoke several times in front of City Council last year on behalf of a developer named James Dugan. She said Dugan was interested in purchasing the entire 64-acre midtown campus from the city outright, a proposal she reiterated at Wednesday's City Council meeting. A written public comment O'Dean submitted to the council Dec. 11 identified her as living in District 3. Solve the daily Crossword
The Guardian
06-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The other winner in New York's mayoral contest: ranked-choice voting
The polls did not look good for New York progressives this winter when the Working Families party began making its endorsements for city elections. An early February poll from Emerson College showed Andrew Cuomo with a 23-point lead in a hypothetical Democratic primary matchup. None of the four leading progressives even approached double-digit support – including the then unknown assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. He polled at 1%. In the days before ranked-choice voting, the Working Families party's endorsement process might have looked quite different. Like-minded candidates would have drawn sharp distinctions between each other. Party officials might have looked to nudge candidates toward the exits, behind closed doors. Before any votes had been cast in the primary, the party would consolidate behind just one choice. It would have been bloody and left a bitter taste for everyone. Instead, the opposite happened. Working Families, knowing that majorities rule and that no one can spoil a ranked-choice race, endorsed four candidates. Instead of a single endorsement that served as a kiss of death for other progressives, they backed a slate, allowing voters time to tune in and for candidates to make their pitches. Now Mamdani is the Democratic nominee and the overwhelming favorite to go from 1% all the way to Gracie Mansion. There are many reasons why this 33-year-old pulled off a seemingly unthinkable upset and soared from obscurity to the most talked about Democrat in the nation overnight. He energized young people, reached voters where they are on social media and built an unstoppable coalition. He and his volunteers talked to everyone, everywhere. Ranked-choice voting (RCV) encouraged and incentivized that joyous, barnstorming approach. And while Mamdani ultimately would have won a plurality contest or a ranked-choice one, his super-long-shot candidacy might have been squelched at the very beginning under the old system with its different electoral incentives. His victory shows how much more real power voters have under ranked-choice voting. To be clear: RCV is a party-neutral and candidate-neutral tool. Its job is to produce a majority winner with the widest and deepest support from any field of more than two candidates. It puts an end to spoilers and to the impossible, wish-and-a-prayer calculation that voters otherwise have to make when faced with multiple candidates, some of whom they really like and some of whom they do not. Liberals, conservatives, independents and moderates have run and won under RCV, from coast to coast. But while RCV might be strictly non-partisan, it is decidedly pro-voter – and almost always produces a more positive, issue-focused campaign that looks to drive up turnout and appeal to as many people as possible. A ranked-choice campaign rewards engagement and encourages coalitions; it's a race where instead of tearing down opponents, candidates point out areas of agreement and ask to be a voter's second choice. Voters love RCV and find it easy to use. According to a new SurveyUSA poll of New York voters, 96% said their ballot was easy to fill out. More than three-quarters of voters want to keep or expand RCV. And 82% said they had taken advantage of RCV and ranked at least two candidates. (These numbers are similar across RCV elections, and a powerful rejoinder to critics who insist, despite evidence to the contrary, that it's too confusing.) A remarkable number of New Yorkers saw first-hand how RCV makes our votes more powerful – they had the freedom to express themselves and rank a long-shot first, but still had their vote count for either Mamdani or Cuomo in the ranked choice tally. Perhaps the high marks are of little surprise: voters received a campaign unlike most any other. The tone remained positive and issue-based. Instead of cutting each other down, candidates lifted each other up: Mamdani and Brad Lander cross-endorsed each other, cutting joint ads, riding bicycles together to shared events, sharing the couch on Stephen Colbert, and even sharing a stage at Mamdani's victory party. Jessica Ramos and Whitney Tilson endorsed Cuomo and said that they would rank him second. Mamdani helped Adrienne Adams with fundraising. Sign up to Fighting Back Big thinkers on what we can do to protect civil liberties and fundamental freedoms in a Trump presidency. From our opinion desk. after newsletter promotion Voters always say that they want more choice at the polls, candidates who engage with them, and a genuine, issue-based campaign. They got exactly that in New York City because of ranked choice. And the historic turnout levels – more than 1 million New Yorkers cast ballots, the highest number since the 1980s – shows that when voters get that kind of elevated, engaging campaign, they show up and get involved. When voters have the opportunity to consider new candidates campaigning in creative new ways, the frontrunner with the early name recognition and largest donors can be eclipsed by a newcomer who started at 1%. And instead of going scorched-earth on each other before the general election, even some of the 'losers' seem to have had their status elevated: Lander finished third, and instead of being an asterisk, he has now expanded his base and likability for a future campaign. The majority winner in this race was Zohran Mamdani. But it's also easy to suggest the real winner might be ranked-choice voting. In a moment when so many of our elections are fraught and polarized, all of us looking for a more unified and hopeful path forward – the 'politics of the future', as Mamdani called it when he declared victory – should take a close look at what just happened in New York as proof that stronger elections are truly possible. Outside of Washington, cities and states are becoming laboratories of democracy once again. New York's adoption of ranked-choice voting led to just the kind of campaign our politics so desperately needs: a giant field of candidates presenting their vision of the future, building coalitions, without any time squandered on 'spoilers' or anyone pushed to drop out and consolidate early. In Portland, Oregon, meanwhile, voters modernized government and moved to proportional representation to elect the city council, broadening representation to groups and neighborhoods that have never before had a seat at the table. When voters make these changes, they like them, defend them, and expand them, as we have seen in New York, Maine and Alaska. And it won't take long for people to ask why they can't have ranked choice and proportionality in all their elections. David Daley is the author of Antidemocratic: Inside the Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections as well as Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mamdani could clinch Democratic primary when New York City releases ranked-choice results
Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani could clinch victory Tuesday when the New York City Board of Elections releases the first look at the ranked-choice voting results from the June 24 primary. The board's report will also provide more data on how primary voters viewed Mamdani's candidacy after a week of conversations about what his performance means for the party and the city. Under the city's ranked-choice voting rules, if no candidate wins a majority of the first-choice votes, the race is decided by how voters ranked other candidates on their ballots. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman and democratic socialist, emerged on Election Night with 43.5% of the first-choice votes and a significant lead over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The results Tuesday made clear that Mamdani would be heavily favored to cross 50% once ranked-choice tabulation was complete. Mamdani had a cross-endorsement with the only other candidate who won more than 10% of the vote, city Comptroller Brad Lander. And much of the rest of the field had encouraged voters to leave Cuomo off their ballots entirely. Cuomo saw that writing on the wall and conceded the race on Election Night (although he will still be included in today's results). The New York City Board of Elections will release a full, but unofficial, look at the ranked-choice tabulation based on all the ballots processed so far. In the ranked-choice voting process the city is using, the results are tabulated in rounds with the candidate with the fewest votes being eliminated and people who ranked that candidate first having votes reallocated to their next-highest choice still in the running. That process continues until only two candidates are left and there's a winner. Election officials will run that tabulation on the more than 990,000 ballots the city released last Tuesday, plus any additional ballots processed since then (mail ballots that arrived after Friday weren't included in the Election Night report). However, these results won't be final. There will still be a small number of ballots added to the count between now and when the board certifies the election on July 15. While these ballots could shift the order in which lower-rated candidates are eliminated, it's highly unlikely they'll have any impact on the final results. There's very little reason to think the results won't show Mamdani beating Cuomo in the final round. About 20% of voters ranked someone other than Mamdani or Cuomo first. Without accounting for the additional ballots that will be added to the count, that means that for Mamdani to win, he needs to be ranked ahead of Cuomo on only about one-third of ballots for that went for other candidates in the first round. Realistically, an even smaller number would secure his victory since a sizable number of votes will drop out of the calculation as voters' top choices are eliminated, reducing the number of votes required to win a majority. Because of these 'exhausted' ballots, Mamdani's percentage of the vote in the final round will be higher than it is now, even before accounting for other voters who had ranked him lower on their ballots. All that being said, it's theoretically possible Cuomo wins. Until the board releases the results, there's no way to know for certain how that 20% of the vote breaks down. The ranked-choice system will give a rare peek at how voters who supported lower-ranking candidates feel about their likely nominee. If a large share of those 20% ranked Mamdani ahead of Cuomo, it could demonstrate Mamdani's ability to expand his coalition beyond his core supporters. On the other hand, if many voters are more supportive of Cuomo or left both men of their ballots, it could indicate wider uncertainty about the progressive candidate.
CNN
01-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
What to expect from New York City's ranked-choice vote results
Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani could clinch victory Tuesday when the New York City Board of Elections releases the first look at the ranked-choice voting results from the June 24 primary. The board's report will also provide more data on how primary voters viewed Mamdani's candidacy after a week of conversations about what his performance means for the party and the city. Under the city's ranked-choice voting rules, if no candidate wins a majority of the first-choice votes, the race is decided by how voters ranked other candidates on their ballots. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman and democratic socialist, emerged on Election Night with 43.5% of the first-choice votes and a significant lead over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The results Tuesday made clear that Mamdani would be heavily favored to cross 50% once ranked-choice tabulation was complete. Mamdani had a cross-endorsement with the only other candidate who won more than 10% of the vote, city Comptroller Brad Lander. And much of the rest of the field had encouraged voters to leave Cuomo off their ballots entirely. Cuomo saw that writing on the wall and conceded the race on Election Night (although he will still be included in today's results). The New York City Board of Elections will release a full, but unofficial, look at the ranked-choice tabulation based on all the ballots processed so far. In the ranked-choice voting process the city is using, the results are tabulated in rounds with the candidate with the fewest votes being eliminated and people who ranked that candidate first having votes reallocated to their next-highest choice still in the running. That process continues until only two candidates are left and there's a winner. Election officials will run that tabulation on the more than 990,000 ballots the city released last Tuesday, plus any additional ballots processed since then (mail ballots that arrived after Friday weren't included in the Election Night report). However, these results won't be final. There will still be a small number of ballots added to the count between now and when the board certifies the election on July 15. While these ballots could shift the order in which lower-rated candidates are eliminated, it's highly unlikely they'll have any impact on the final results. There's very little reason to think the results won't show Mamdani beating Cuomo in the final round. About 20% of voters ranked someone other than Mamdani or Cuomo first. Without accounting for the additional ballots that will be added to the count, that means that for Mamdani to win, he needs to be ranked ahead of Cuomo on only about one-third of ballots for that went for other candidates in the first round. Realistically, an even smaller number would secure his victory since a sizable number of votes will drop out of the calculation as voters' top choices are eliminated, reducing the number of votes required to win a majority. Because of these 'exhausted' ballots, Mamdani's percentage of the vote in the final round will be higher than it is now, even before accounting for other voters who had ranked him lower on their ballots. All that being said, it's theoretically possible Cuomo wins. Until the board releases the results, there's no way to know for certain how that 20% of the vote breaks down. The ranked-choice system will give a rare peek at how voters who supported lower-ranking candidates feel about their likely nominee. If a large share of those 20% ranked Mamdani ahead of Cuomo, it could demonstrate Mamdani's ability to expand his coalition beyond his core supporters. On the other hand, if many voters are more supportive of Cuomo or left both men of their ballots, it could indicate wider uncertainty about the progressive candidate.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What to know about ranked-choice voting as NYC heads to polls
New York City's ranked choice voting system will be critical to determining who prevails in its Democratic mayoral primary. Voters first approved ranked-choice voting for certain city elections in 2019, but this will be only its second mayoral race to be run under the system. The winner of the Democratic primary four years ago won by about 7,000 votes, and the primary may be just as close this time. Supporters tout the system as an alternative to the first-past-the-post system, in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins, even if it's with less than a majority of the vote. They argue it requires a candidate to build a wider coalition and can produce winners who are more acceptable to a larger group of voters. In New York City's ranked-choice system, voters are allowed to rank up to five candidates in order of their preference, though they aren't required to rank five. If one candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, they are declared the winner outright. This seems unlikely to occur with a crowded field of nearly a dozen candidates, including several big names in the city. If no candidate receives a majority, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed according to their supporters' next choices. If a voter doesn't have a second choice, then their vote is considered exhausted and won't factor into the next round of counting. The process continues as additional candidates are eliminated in subsequent rounds and one candidate reaches a majority. In 2021, that took eight rounds for now-Mayor Eric Adams (D), who is running this time as an independent for reelection. He started out ahead in the first round of counting with about 30 percent of the vote, but he didn't gain much in the following rounds as other candidates gained on him. In the seventh round, he was ahead with just more than 40 percent of the vote to just more than 30 percent for former city Sanitation Department Commissioner Kathryn Garcia and 29 percent for former city official Maya Wiley. Wiley was eliminated, and most of her supporters preferred Garcia, but it wasn't enough for her to beat Adams, who ultimately won by less than 1 point. This year, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Assembly member Zohran Mamdani will need to rely on support from voters who prefer one of the other candidates — such as Comptroller Brad Lander, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and former Comptroller Scott Stringer — as their top choice. Those three candidates have been in the next tier behind Cuomo and Mamdani but generally haven't received more than low double digits in the polls. Mamdani is hoping to use ranked-choice to his advantage as he and some other candidates have worked to try to get voters to rank any candidate except for Cuomo. Mamdani and Lander, who has often come in third in polling, have cross-endorsed each other, calling on their supporters to rank them first and second. The goal is to make it more likely that as many votes for one candidate as possible go to the other candidate when one of them is eliminated, creating a united front against Cuomo. Adrienne Adams didn't formally cross-endorse, to some Cuomo opponents' disappointment, but she called on voters to back a slate of candidates endorsed by the Working Families Party, a smaller, left-wing party influential among progressives. That slate includes herself, Mamdani, Lander and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie. Cuomo regularly has been first in the initial round based on polling, usually in the mid- to upper-30s. That would mean he needs help to get to a majority. Polling has shown him usually inching up to get there in seven to 10 rounds of counting. The final results of the race are also likely not to come Tuesday. New York City allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday to be counted after primary day, so the rounds of ranked choice won't happen until next July 1. But what seems apparent is Cuomo and Mamdani will engage in a multiround race to get to more than 50 percent. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
