Ranked-choice voting explained: What to know for New York City mayoral election
NEW YORK (WABC) -- New Yorkers will once again rank their top choices for mayor of New York City for the primary election.
"We order things naturally, we all have our top favorite three ice creams, or top favorite breakfast dishes," said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/New York.
And thanks to ranked-choice voting, New Yorkers can do the same in some political elections.
Ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank as many as five candidates in order of preference.
RELATED | Early voting in the NYC mayoral primary begins on Saturday
If your top choice is eliminated, your vote is then transferred to the next candidate on your ballot. If a candidate gets a majority of votes (over 50%) they are declared the winner.
Proponents say the system favors the candidates who appeal to the widest group of voters.
"Your vote is more powerful if you take advantage of the rankings, you can vote for one," Lerner said. "Nobody is going to force you to vote for more than one, but if you want the full power of a ranked choice voting system, do use the rankings."
So voters don't have to select five candidates, but it is important to note you cannot vote for someone more than once.
And you are still able to write in candidates.
As for how you should rank your choices?
"Your first choice should be the candidate you are passionate about, your second choice is the candidate you think would do a really good job and if number one weren't running, that would be your first choice," Lerner said. "Your third or fourth choices should be candidates you think are going to be OK, you have no problem with them. And your fifth choice is the candidate, well, I can live with this one, but never rank somebody that you don't want to see in office."
Early voting gets underway Saturday in New York City and primary day is Tuesday, June 24.
Click here to find your early voting site and your election day polling site.
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