Inside the Turmoil at the Agency That Is Running Ranked-Choice Voting

The Board of Elections, which has a history of mishaps, is now under intense fire for its error in releasing mayoral primary results.

As New Yorkers began to cast ballots in the first citywide election with ranked-choice voting, turmoil quietly roiled the government agency overseeing the election. The agency, the New York City Board of Elections, had lost its executive director and one of his top deputies just weeks before early voting. It was being pressured to change its plan for releasing results. And as Primary Day approached on June 22, the board’s remaining leaders had repeatedly declined help with the ranked-choice software and delayed training for employees, creating confusion among the staff.