Ranked Choice Voting, Made Simple

You know the moment. You're out with friends, and the upcoming NYC mayoral primaries come up. Suddenly, everyone's talking about who to rank, and who not to. Sure, you get the gist of ranked choice (five picks in order of preference) but do you really understand how the votes are counted?

That’s why we partnered with attorney and law professor Nick Stabile and The Carter Center to create a quick, easy-to-follow video that clears things up in just a couple of minutes. Styled like Vogue’s “73 Questions,” we hit Nick with 29 rapid-fire questions covering everything from his role in getting ranked choice voting passed in NYC to a simple demonstration using pizza toppings to show how ranked choice tabulation works. Why? So no one ends up with anchovies.

For the TL;DW Crowd (Too Long, Didn't Watch)

• You might not recognize Nick Stabile, but he's an attorney, election law professor, and helped design New York City’s ranked choice voting system as part of the 2019 Charter Revision Commission.

• Ranked choice voting gives voters more say by letting them rank candidates in order of preference. It's designed to ensure that the winner has broader support and not just a slim plurality.

• RCV was first used in NYC in 2021, but it took decades to pass. It was officially adopted after voters approved it via referendum, following the 2019 Charter Revision Commission (which Nick was a member of).

• Important note: RCV is only used in primary and special elections, not in the general election.

• Also worth noting: Nick makes excellent coffee.

• Skip to 3:45 in the video for a 90 second demo (yes, with pizza). You’ll be quoting it at dinner parties.

Hopefully this quick rundown of ranked choice voting gave you some ammo for the next time your know-it-all friend starts preaching about who to rank. Just hit them up with some fun facts about how it got passed and you're golden!

Heard of the 2019 Charter Revision Commission right? No? Let's fix that.

Here are a few fun behind-the-scenes photos from the video shoot in downtown Manhattan: