Counting ballots in NYC mayor's race will be faster thanks to software approval

New Yorkers can expect to find out who won the city's upcoming Democratic mayoral primary more quickly than they would have if the New York State Board of Elections hadn't acted Tuesday to approve software for tabulating ranked-choice voting results. The decision means the city will now avoid a lengthy hand count of the ballots cast in the race next month. 

New York City conducted four special elections earlier this year for council seats using the ranked-choice voting system, but without approved tabulation software, it took several days for officials to hand count the ballots.  "I think hand counts, in my estimation, are the worst way to conduct an election. I think certainly a voting system or a voting machine is a better way to count ballots," said Peter Kosinski, the Republican co-chair of the state Board of Elections. "There's a big primary coming up in June, a citywide primary, and conducting that one by hand I think would be very burdensome."