The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for July 7, 2025
We reported recently on the use of ranked choice voting in New York City’s Democratic Primary. A survey found that 96% of Big Apple voters found it easy to use and 58% agreed that “Ranking allowed me to vote for candidates who aligned with my values.” Fifty-two percent felt that “Ranking allowed me to support multiple candidates.”
We initially reported Zohran Mamdani’s 43.5% win with only one round of ranked choice completed, due to Andrew Cuomo’s concession. But in ranked choice voting, candidates must have enough votes to achieve a 50% + 1 majority. In the second and third rounds, eliminations of lower ranked candidates whose supporters had ranked Mamdani shifted 99,000 voters to him, giving Mamdani a 56 to 44% majority win.
Polling showed 96% of New Yorkers found ranked choice voting easy to use, including 72% very simple, and 24% somewhat simple. Eighty-two percent of voters ranked at least two candidates, and 45% ranked the maximum five of 11 candidates. Turnout for the Democratic primary was the highest in decades according to City & State New York, with almost 1,027,000 voting.
Seems like a successful election, yes? Good turnout, more choices for voters, no need for an expensive runoff election to get a majority. So why have 17 red state legislatures banned ranked choice voting, five of them just in 2025? More on that in an upcoming report.
We have more on New York City’s results and ranked choice voting process at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Board of Elections for the City of New York – 2025 PRIMARY ELECTION – UNOFFICIAL RANKED CHOICE ROUNDS
Survey USA Election Poll – 96% of NYC Democratic Primary Voters Say Ranked Choice Ballots Were Simple to Fill Out
American Democracy Minute – Start Spreading the News: NYC Mayoral Primary Results, Queens Assembly Candidate Indicted & George Santos Reports to Jail in July
Politico – Mamdani makes RCV boring
City & State NY – 4 takeaways from New York City’s ranked choice voting results
National Conference of State Legislatures – This Year’s Election Bills Focus On Citizenship, Ranked Choice Voting
FairVote – Analysis: Ranked choice voting gave New Yorkers more choice, more voice
Groups Taking Action:
FairVote, Rank the Vote NYC , Common Cause NY
Register or Check Your Voter Registration:
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
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