Report in Support of Instant Run-Off Voting in the Primaries for Citywide Office in New York City

SUMMARY

In a joint report, the Committees on Election Law and New York City Affairs expressed support for legislation which would implement instant run-off voting for the primaries for citywide office in New York City. The bill would allow voters to rank up to five candidates in order of preference on their ballot during the primary. Under the legislation, if the candidate with the most votes garners less than 50% plus one vote of the votes, the two candidates with the most votes proceed to a second round of ballot-counting. In this second round, each ballot is counted as a vote for whichever of the two advancing candidates is ranked higher by that voter. The candidate with the most votes in the second round would be declared the winner of the run-off. This approach, the report argues, would save New York City considerable time, resources and money over conducting the run-off election now required by law if no candidate for citywide office receives 40% of the vote in the primary, while at the same time ensuring that the candidate ultimately elected in a primary has significant support from her/his party.

Originally Issued May 2014; Latest Reissue August 2017

BILL INFORMATION

A.5752 (AM Kavanagh) / S.3309 (Sen. Lanza) – provides for instant run-off elections in New York City (NYS 2015-16); A.5571-A/S.4586-A (NYS 2015-16)