New Yorkers voting in the city’s closely-watched Democratic mayoral primary election on June 24 will be able to rank their top five candidates thanks to ranked-choice voting — and that’s set the scene for candidates on the ballot, who are ostensibly rivals, telling their supporters to vote for each other.
How does ranked-choice voting work in New York City?
On their ballot, voters can rank up to five candidates in any order. Ranking one candidate in two spots, though, does not give that candidate two votes.
According to the New York City Board of Elections, if a candidate gets over 50% of the first-choice votes, that candidate wins the race outright.
If no candidate breaks 50%, the candidate with the least amount of votes is eliminated, and vote tabulation continues in rounds. In the second round, voters whose first-choice candidate got eliminated get their second-choice vote counted. If that voter’s first-choice candidate was not eliminated, their second-choice vote is not counted.
This keeps going until only two candidates remain, according to the board, and the candidate in the lead at that point wins the primary.
New York City first used ranked-choice voting citywide in the 2021 municipal primary elections.
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Advocates of ranked choice voting have praised it as allowing voters to have more choices. FairVote, a nonpartisan group advocating for ranked-choice voting, has praised how it allows more positive campaigns and collaboration between candidates.
Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic political strategist, told ABC News that ranked-choice voting might be “confusing” to voters who are not used to it.
“Voting is habitual and ritualistic. Changing the system benefits the more educated and affluent while injuring others,” he said.
How ranked-choice voting allows unique alliances
Since voters are able to rank multiple candidates, some candidates have been able to form unusual alliances with each other — including telling their supporters to rank each other.
Two of the progressive-leaning mayoral candidates – state assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and city comptroller Brad Lander — announced on Friday that they are cross-endorsing each other in what they said is an effort to stop former Gov. Andrew Cuomo from winning the race.
“The core reason, I think, is it it significantly increases the chances of Andrew Cuomo not winning … If you have somebody leading in the polls, and the number-two and -three candidates agree that that person is unacceptable, teaming up dramatically increases their chances,” Lander said at an event on Friday with Mamdani.
Sheinkopf said that the cross-endorsements by progressive candidates such as Mamdani and Lander are ultimately meant to limit the amount of votes Cuomo can get, although he feels that the cross-endorsements also amount to “making deals to win without telling voters what the deals could cost should any of the dealers win.”
Many organizations have also endorsed multiple candidates, sometimes telling supporters the order in which to rank them. Some organizations, such as the New York Working Families Party, have sounded a similar tone to Lander and Mamdani, saying that voters should rank the group’s endorsed candidates and not rank Cuomo at all.
The Cuomo campaign has shrugged off the cross-endorsements and calls from groups to not rank the former governor.
“We are running our campaign, they are running theirs — ultimately the voters will decide,” Esther Jensen, a spokesperson for the Cuomo campaign, told ABC News in a statement.
Cuomo has support from two other mayoral candidates, although they are not cross-endorsements.
Mayoral candidate and state Sen. Jessica Ramos has fully endorsed Cuomo and effectively suspended her campaign, although she will still be on the ballot. Separately, mayoral candidate and former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson said at the second mayoral primary debate that he will rank Cuomo second on his ballot.
On Monday, Mamdani and another former assembly member on the ballot, Michael Blake, also announced that they would cross-endorse each other in the race.
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When will we know the results? Will ranked-choice voting impact when they are ready?
While the primary is Tuesday, June 24, fuller results won’t be reported until a week later, on July 1. Instead, the city’s election board expects to provide preliminary totals for voters’ first-choice votes on June 24 after polls close, and then run the ranked-choice tabulation on July 1.
Part of the delay can be attributed to the complex nature of collecting and tabulating the results of ranked-choice ballots, especially if no candidate crosses the 50% threshold needed to win on the first round. Polls have shown no candidate winning outright on the first round.
A spokesperson for the New York City Board of Elections, Vincent Ignizio, recently told POLITICO, “We’re not going to exchange speed for accuracy.”
ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd contributed to this report.
