As New York City voters cast their ballots in the high-stakes Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday (June 24), many will be using a system that changes how elections are decided: ranked choice voting (RCV).
Unlike traditional “pick-one” voting, RCV lets voters rank their favorite candidates in order of preference. The system is designed to give voters more voice and make elections more representative — but it’s not without complexity or controversy.
Here’s how it works — and why it matters in a crowded field that includes former Governor Andrew Cuomo, progressive State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, and several other prominent Democrats.
How ranked choice voting works
In New York City, voters can rank up to five candidates, from first to fifth choice.
- If a candidate receives more than 50% of first-choice votes, they win immediately.
- If no one crosses the 50% mark, the RCV process begins.
From there, the process is as follows:
The candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated.
- Votes for that eliminated candidate are redistributed to the next-ranked candidate on each voter’s ballot.
- This process repeats in rounds, with the lowest-ranked candidate eliminated each time.
- It continues until only two candidates remain, and the one with the most votes at that point is declared the winner.
This method ensures that voters who support eliminated candidates can still influence the final outcome through their lower-ranked choices.
Why it takes longer to count
Although the tabulation itself is handled by computer, official ranked choice counting doesn’t begin until July 1. That’s because election officials must wait for all mail-in and absentee ballots to arrive and be counted.
Preliminary results from first-choice votes are expected Tuesday night.
But the full ranked tabulation may take days or even weeks, with the official certification expected by July 15.