Tag: new york city

Much of the election coverage on Tuesday focused on the New York primaries, especially in NYC and the hotly contested ranked choice election for mayor. What got less attention, however, were the 3.5 million independent voters in the state locked out of elections they paid for.

For the third time in history, New York City voters used ranked choice voting (RCV) to determine their party nominees in Tuesday’s citywide primary elections. First implemented in 2021, the system was used in that year’s highly competitive Democratic primary, where Eric Adams ultimately secured the nomination and went on to become mayor. It was used again in 2023 without incident.

As the New York City Charter Revision Commission considers a wide breadth of reforms to city policy, one reform in particular is catching the attention of both voters and the media: Ending the city’s use of closed partisan primaries.

A crowded field of nine Democratic candidates will take the stage tonight, June 4, in the first official debate of the 2025 New York City mayoral primary. Held at NBC’s 30 Rock studios and co-sponsored by the city’s Campaign Finance Board, NBC 4 New York, Telemundo 47, and POLITICO New York, the debate comes at a pivotal moment in a race already shaped by political upheaval, criminal investigations, and the unique dynamics of ranked choice voting.

Pressure continues to mount for New York City to change its primary election laws to include all eligible voters, regardless of party, as independent voters rally behind a simple message: "No voter should be required to join a political party to vote."

A lot of people are talking about democracy reform in New York City, especially since the implementation of ranked choice voting. But while ranked choice voting in party primaries is novel, let’s be honest: it’s not “small-d” democratic. The fact is, the general election still uses a plurality voting system, which means candidates don’t need to win a majority, they just need more votes than anyone else.

The New York City Charter Revision Commission, which is tasked with proposing policy changes to city government, held its first public meeting this week since it released a preliminary report that considers a potential end to the city’s closed primaries.

The New York Times scooped on May 20 that the U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor and current front-runner in the city’s Democratic mayoral primary. The inquiry focuses on Cuomo’s testimony to Congress about his administration’s handling of nursing home admissions during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Marist College poll released Wednesday found that former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has emerged as the frontrunner in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor – which would make him the odds-on favorite to unseat Mayor Eric Adams.

The New York City Charter Revision Commission, convened by Mayor Eric Adams, released a preliminary report last week in which it states it is considering two potential reforms to city primary elections that exclude a fifth of the city's electorate.