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Welcome!

Rank your favorite Albany landmarks here:

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What is Ranked Choice Voting?

Instead of picking just one candidate,

Ranked Choice Voting �lets you rank multiple candidates

in the order you prefer them.

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Where is Ranked Choice Voting used?

2000

2012

2024

2000

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Ranked Choice Voting Nationwide

2012

2024

2000

2012

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Where is Ranked Choice Voting used?

2012

2024

2000

2024

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Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) History in NY

1936-1947: NYC voters introduced proportional ranked voting, Yonkers and Long Beach soon followed, then repealed

2019: NYC Voters passed RCV for party primaries (not general) with 73% of the vote

2021 & 2025: NYC Voters used RCV for city primaries, including mayoral

Right now, voting looks something like this.

In a crowded field you may only express preference for one candidate.

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Vote for one.

Ranked Choice Voting looks like this.

Beyond your first choice, you may list up to 4 backup choices.

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How do you use a Ranked Choice ballot?

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Do you need to rank them all?

You can as many or few as you want.

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• Your second choice will not hurt your first choice.

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• DO NOT rank anyone you despise, as even a fifth choice may help them win.

NO!

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Why rank multiple?

Ranking strengthens your VOICE and POWER!

Your vote stays in play.

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• If your first choice can’t win, your vote transfers to your second choice.

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• You can vote honestly without wasting your vote: If you believe in your first choice but don’t think they can win, just put backup choices!

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How are Ranked Choice ballots counted?

Count only the 1st choice votes.

Round 1

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How are Ranked Choice ballots counted?

Count only the 1st choice votes.

Round 1

Majority in First Round!

Round 1

Count only the 1st choice votes.

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How are Ranked Choice ballots counted?

Count only the 1st choice votes.

Round 1

Round 1

No Majority in First Round

Count only the 1st choice votes.

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How are Ranked Choice ballots counted?

Round 1

Round 1

Round 1

Round 2

Voters for the last-place candidate: their votes instantly count toward their 2nd choice.

X

20%

44%

36%

+4%

+1%

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How are Ranked Choice ballots counted?

Round 1

Round 1

Round 1

Round 2

Voters for the last-place candidate: their votes instantly count toward their 2nd choice.

X

20%

44%

36%

Round 1

Round 2

20%

44%

36%

Round 3

45%

55%

X

+1%

+19%

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🎉 That’s it! 🎉

How are Ranked Choice ballots counted?

Let’s see the Albany landmarks results 👀

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Why even vote this way?

1. No more “lesser of two evils”

2. Reduces divisiveness and toxicity

3. Makes politicians work for your vote because they need a majority

4. Makes government better reflect the voices and identities of the people

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No more “lesser of two evils”

As a voter, you can rank first the candidate you really want without fear of that choice handing victory to the candidate you hate.

Removing the “spoiler effect” helps

• minor candidates and parties meaningfully participate
• major candidates and parties not fear losing because of an additional minor candidate

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Reduces Divisiveness and Toxicity

Candidates need to get voters’ second and third choices even if those voters support an opponent.

They are incentivized to avoid tearing each other down and instead bring forward innovative solutions.

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Voters Consistently Report Less Negativity

Studies consistently indicate voters observe less negativity from candidates running under RCV vs. normal plurality elections.

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• 2020: Text based sentiment analysis showed that RCV improved debates, w/ candidates substituting negative or neutral words for positive words.
• 2018: 67% of voters in Santa Fe’s first RCV race reported it was less negative.
• 2014: Two polls: voters in RCV cities observe less negativity than in plurality.
• 2013: Sentiment analysis of press in RCV cities shows more positive language.

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Read FairVote’s List of Research

Reduces Divisiveness and Toxicity

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“There was relatively little elbowing and attacking because every candidate wanted to be the second choice of their opponents’ supporters.”

Former Minneapolis Mayor

Betsy Hodges

Reduces Divisiveness and Toxicity

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Working Towards a Majority

Candidates cannot depend upon a small, extreme base: since you need 50% to win, you need to find a way to appeal to a broader audience and truly represent your district.

• In NYC, we have already seen candidates for the same seat throw support to each other in order to broaden support: Yang and Garcia in ‘21 and Salaam and Taylor in ‘23.

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Working Towards a Majority

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Representation

With RCV, there’s no need to “wait your turn” to run, or worry about pulling votes from someone with a similar identity.

RCV benefits women and candidates of color:

• Candidates of color pay no penalty when they run against other candidates of the same race or ethnicity.
• Nationwide, districts without RCV had 28% women’s representation in government as compared to 52% in districts with RCV.

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Representation under RCV: NYC

With the introduction of RCV in 2021, the city council went from:

51% people of color -> 67%

(69% of NYC are people of color)

20% women -> 61%

(52% of NYC are women)

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RCV in practice | NYC Mayoral Election 2025

Review the results

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Post-election snapshot 2025

New York City voters love RCV!

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1. Embraced the ranking - In the mayoral election, 82% of voters ranked multiple candidates and 45% of voters used all five ranking spots on their ballot.
2. Found RCV “Easy to use” - 96% of voters found it simple to complete their ballots, including at least 94% of each racial group. 81% say they understand RCV extremely or very well.
3. Want to use RCV again - 76% of voters want to use RCV in future elections, including 42% who want to expand to the general election.
4. Historically high turnout - Over 1 million primary voters participated, the highest since 1989.

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Why Albany elections need reform

• Right now, you can win an election with any amount (say 30%) if the field is divided enough.

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• Similar candidates can split the vote and present a dilemma to voters.

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• With the city’s strong Democratic lean, only the low-turnout primaries are competitive.

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• 1 in 4 Albany voters are not Democrats or Republicans and thus can’t participate at all in these closed primaries.

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Democratic Primary for Albany Mayor (June 2025)

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Actual Results

52%

28%

11%

7%

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But it could have turned out like this:

28%

26%

30%

16%

Candidate wins the election even though 70% of voters voted for someone else.

Our approach: the most common RCV model

A single unified election

The most commonly used model in U.S. cities that use RCV (Minneapolis, Oakland, San Francisco, Boulder, Santa Fe, more)

Advantages:

• More democratic: include all voters in the election that matters, and boost turnout.
• Reduce the length of the election ”season.”
• Save money!

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Is change possible here in Albany?

Yes!

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Under state law and the NY Constitution, cities and counties have broad latitude to reform local elections, but any changes passed need to go before the voters.

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If the Albany Common Council and Albany County Legislature are interested, they could even coordinate efforts.

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Is change possible here in Albany?

Cities have an additional tool:

A ballot initiative process for charter amendments.

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We could gather signatures from city of Albany residents:

• 10% of the previous gubernatorial vote (~2600) would force the city council to consider putting the amendment on the next ballot.
• If they do not act or vote it down, an additional 5% can force it on the ballot.

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Take Action!

• Top priority: Fill out the Interest Form so we can stay in touch! We hope to start collecting signatures soon.

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• Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @rcvalbany, and invite your friends!

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• Who should we talk to next? Reach out to groups/VIPs who we can educate and/or build our coalition with.

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Thank you!

Questions?