Since June 2013, a bill has been pending in the New York city council to provide for ranked-choice voting in primaries for citywide office. The bill, 1066-2013, has ten sponsors. Because the bill hasn’t passed yet, New York city must hold a run-off Democratic primary on October 1 for Public Advocate, because no one got as much as 40% of the vote on September 16. The two candidates will be Daniel Squadron and city council member Letitia James. James is one of the co-sponsors of the bill.
It is conceivable that the October 1 Democratic run-off primary ballot will also include a Mayoral run-off. Even though William Thompson conceded to Bill de Blasio, his concession has no legal effect. If the final tally shows that de Blasio didn’t quite get 40%, the Mayoral run-off must be held. The count so far shows de Blasio at 40.88%, but not all absentee ballots have been counted.
Reading the text of the bill, it (unsurprisingly) uses “majority of continuing ballots” language.
The primary already didn’t require a true majority winner (just 40%) but I hope New Yorkers realize that this leaves open the possibility of a winner who gets less than 40% of all ballots cast, as has happened in at least one election in North Carolina (where the ultimate winner had just 28% of all ballots cast.)
NO moron primaries are needed.
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.