De Blasio says NYC may need to ‘reassess’ ranked-choice voting

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would be wise to “reassess” the ranked-choice voting system if evidence suggests there were racial and class disparities in how voters used the instant runoff during the June primary.

“If it turns out it was utilized well across the board, in all sorts of communities, then I feel good about it,” de Blasio said during a virtual press conference about the city’s new instant-runoff system, under which voters can rank up to five candidates in order of preference. “I like it if there was relative equality in how people utilize their ballots. In other words: if in more privileged and less privileged communities you saw consistent voting one through five, or as close to that as possible, everyone maximizing the power of their ballot.”