How NYC's ranked choice voting works for the mayoral primary election
New York City's mayoral election is using ranked choice voting for the June 2025 primary.
Election Day is Tuesday, June 24 after early voting in the race wrapped up over the weekend.
CBS News estimates a turnout of 1.1 million voters, with most voting in person Tuesday. That's more than a third of registered Democrats in the Big Apple, and is a noticeably higher turnout than the 2021 primary.
Mayor Eric Adams is running for reelection as an independent, while a whopping 11 candidates are competing in a crowded Democratic primary. CLICK HERE for interviews with the leading contenders and where they stand on the issues.
What is NYC ranked choice voting?
Ranked choice voting, also known as instant runoff voting, allows voters to rank candidates from their first to fifth choice.
The idea is to prevent a costly runoff election by having voters mark their choices in order of preference from the start.
"There was a time when we didn't have this, and if a candidate did not get 50% plus one of the vote, there was a runoff election in the next couple of weeks between the top two candidates. And that runoff election cost New York City taxpayers over $20 million," political expert J.C. Polanco explained, adding, "It's an effort for there to be an instant runoff, where we don't need a runoff election that costs us tens of millions of dollars."
Advocates say it also gives a more diverse range of candidates a chance in normally combative elections.
"That means that every individual voter has more power, and voters are more likely to have their choice reflected in the final outcome," said New York City Campaign Finance Board Assistant Press Secretary Jadel Munguia, adding, "Ranked choice voting benefits voters by giving voters more say in who gets elected. Candidates are more likely to appeal to voters, not attack each other, and voters elect more diverse candidates."
Ranked choice voting can lead to some unusual alliances where candidates and other prominent figures suggest how voters should rank their choices. For example in this race, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani has cross-endorsed New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and former state Assemblyman Michael Blake as they try to team up against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Meanwhile, State Sen. Jessica Ramos made a surprise decision to endorse Cuomo.
"It revolutionizes how we vote moving forward. It's going to create allegiances early on, and that's what you're seeing now," Polanco said.
Back in 2019, more than 73% of New Yorkers voted in favor of ranked choice voting. The city then launched a $15 million campaign to educate voters about the new system.
Ranked choice voting was first rolled out in February 2021 for a special election in Queens before taking effect for the citywide elections later that year.
Then-Mayor Bill de Blasio famously asked New Yorkers to practice by ranking their favorite pizza toppings, and later announced pepperoni took home top honors with about 45% of the votes.
How does NYC ranked choice voting work?
Voters will rank their top five choices in order of preference.
You do not have to rank all five, you can rank as many or as few as you like. If you only want to vote for one, then leave the other columns blank.
"Here's what you should avoid doing: You can't rank multiple candidates as your first choice. If you choose more than one candidate as your first choice, your ballot will not be valid," said Munguia. "You can't rank your favorite candidate more than once. If you do so, then only your first ranking will count."
All first-choice votes are counted first. If a candidate receives more than 50% of the first-choice votes, they win. If no candidate receives more than 50%, counting will continue in rounds.
At the end of each round, the last-place candidate will be eliminated. Voters who chose that candidate will now have their vote counted for their next choice.
Second-choice votes are only counted if your first-choice is eliminated. If both your first and second choices are eliminated, your vote is counted for your third-choice, and so on.
This process continues until there are two candidates left, and the candidate with the most votes wins.
When will we know the election results?
The first unofficial election results will be posted when polls close on Election Day. These include first-choice votes from early voting, Election Day and valid mail ballots. Then, ranked choice elimination rounds will be conducted, and reports will be released each week until the results are certified.
Officials say the results will not be certified until all ballots are counted, including early mail, absentee, military, affidavit and emergency. Political insiders expect this may take up to a month.
"We have to make sure that every single valid vote is counted," said Polanco. "That means that mail-in ballots from folks that are in the military, folks that are outside of New York. Then, we have to deal with folks that are in senior retirement homes that don't come to the polls but order a ballot because they were going to be away from home," he continued. "Those votes have to be counted and, unfortunately, in New York, we cannot start counting those until Election Day comes around. So we have to wait for those mail-in ballots to come in."
"If there is not one candidate with 50% plus one of the vote, those successive rounds will eventually take more time," he added.
An exit poll after the 2021 primary elections showed 95% of voters found the ballot simple to fill out, and 75% said they wanted to use ranked choice voting again. The state Assembly later met to discuss what did and did not work, pointing to some confusion and the long wait for the results.
In that mayoral primary, the final results were certified nearly a month after the election. Then-Democratic nominee Eric Adams said he supported the system but questioned the rollout.