Can Voters Game Out Their Ranked Choice Ballot?

Mark Schmitt was quoted in The City on how to approach ranked choice voting in the New York City mayoral elections.

“I think that’s maybe just hard to absorb, and we’re used to thinking there’s some kind of trick in everything,” said Mark Schmitt, who runs the Political Reform program at New America. 

The best way to make your voice heard for your preferred candidate(s) is just to rank them in the order you’d like to see them hold the office. 

“There’s just no reason to do anything other than rank,” said Schmitt.

Lerner agrees: “New Yorkers are always looking for some special angle, and the thing about ranked choice voting is it’s designed to allow you to vote your values,” she said. “This one just doesn’t have an angle.”

Schmitt does have one tip. 

“The only thing I would say, and this is coming up a lot in New York — if there’s somebody who you’d really, really object to, don’t rank them,” he said.