New York City’s first go-round with ranked-choice voting is off to a rocky start.
The city’s first release of ranked-choice voting results was corrupted by test data that was never cleared from a computer system. Mayor de Blasio said at least there’s plenty of time to get everything straightened out.
“I say thank God it was a June primary,” he said. “If the result is a few weeks away there’s still plenty of time for a full general election campaign and to vet the candidates and have real debate and everything else. If this were a September primary we’d all be screwed.”
The mayor said he doesn’t think this will spell the end of ranked-choice voting in the city.
“There are still real advantages,” he said. “I do agree that it will lead to close examination. I’m not gonna be shocked if some people say, ‘Hey, maybe this is not worth the trouble,’ but we haven’t even seen the whole process yet. I think it’s too early to judge.”
He said the Board of Elections is in need of reform, citing fundamental structural flaws and a lack of accountability.
“I don’t think this spells the end of it because we haven’t even gotten through this process,” de Blasio said. “Let’s see how this goes with a recanvass and a transparent process and see what the results are in the end and how people feel about that.”