Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Lawsuit Seeks To Block The Start Of Ranked-Choice Voting Next Year
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Dec 9, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
John Minchillo/AP/Shutterstock
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Dec 9, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
An influential coalition of City Council members and community groups intensified their opposition to ranked-choice voting late Tuesday, filing a lawsuit against two agencies that oversee elections in an effort to halt the new voting system from taking effect early next year.
In a complaint filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, the plaintiffs argue the New York City Board of Elections (BOE) and the Campaign Finance Board (CFB) have failed to meet their obligations mandated by the City Charter to roll out the new voting system and educate communities about it. Those failures, they assert, could adversely impact communities with limited-English proficiency and communities of color.
The plaintiffs include Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo; the co-chairs of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, Adrienne Adams and I. Daneek Miller; and Councilmembers Alicka Ampry-Samuel, Farah Louis, and Robert Cornegy, a candidate for Brooklyn borough president, along with 10 community organizations.
They are being represented by Frank Carone, an attorney with deep ties to both the Brooklyn Democratic organization and mayoral candidate Eric Adams, the Brooklyn Borough president, who also has raised concerns about ranked-choice voting. The suit comes roughly six weeks before the first election that would use the new voting system: a special election to fill the vacancy in the 24th City Council district, left open when Rory Lancman resigned last month to take a position in the Cuomo administration.
Ranked-choice voting [RCV] will allow voters to pick up to five candidates in order of preference during the primary and special elections. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the total, the last place finisher is eliminated. The voters who picked the eliminated candidate as their first choice will have their second choice counted, with the same process repeating until one candidate surpasses 50%.
When voters approved the new system by 74% in a ballot referendum in 2019, it faced little opposition until just days before the vote. Now, many of those raising the most vocal concerns are from a narrower constituency with close ties to their county machines and, in some cases, Adams’s mayoral campaign.
However, that is not the case for all the plaintiffs. Councilmember Adrienne Adams (no relation), who represents part of southeast Queens and has not yet endorsed a mayoral candidate, told Gothamist/WNYC that it was the poor performance by the BOE and CFB at Monday’s hearing that made her join the lawsuit.
“If you're telling voters to rank one through five and you've got between nine and 11 candidates in any race, there is going to need to be preparation. You've now got to research even more candidates at this point,” said Adams.
Her frustration was targeted particularly at the CFB who she said provided an overly simplistic description of ranked-choice voting at a recent City Council hearing, comparing it to a grocery list. “How dare you? This is not a grocery list. This is going to be learning about the candidates that you're voting for,” she said.
She dismissed a question about whether the lawsuit was an effort by county machines to protect the voting system they know and understand. But there are Democratic county leaders who openly oppose the new system.
“All five county leaders hate this crap,” said former Assemblyman Keith Wright, head of the Manhattan County Democrats, who objected to how proponents of the law spoke directly to reducing the influence of party leaders. “They said, ‘Take the county leaders out of your vote. Don't let county leaders control your vote. Vote for rank choice voting.’ Well, if county leaders control all these votes, you know, my behind would be sitting up there on Capitol Hill right now,” he said, in reference to his unsuccessful Congressional bid four years ago.
He also said the new initiative was conceived in a “clandestine” manner. As an example, he said the 7-point font size on the ballot was so small that people didn’t know what they were voting for.
The substance of the ballot question came out of a Charter Revision Commission that held multiple public hearings in all five boroughs over the course of a year.
“There was no conspiracy to pass RCV, there was an election,” said Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY, who led a campaign in support of the initiative in 2019. “The decision to put RCV on the ballot was not conducted in a backroom but in broad daylight by the Charter Review Commission -- appointed by the City Council, among others -- which held numerous public hearings over the course of months.”
A spokesperson for the city BOE declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing their policy on pending litigation. The head of Campaign Finance Board insisted they would continue their ongoing educational efforts ahead of the upcoming elections.
“We welcome any organization that will join with us to make sure all of New York City’s communities are prepared for the 2021 elections,” said Amy Loprest, the CFB’s executive director. “We are confident that, with support from our community partners, government, and elected officials, we will get this done.”
Tagged
ranked choice voting
election 2021
voting
Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
US judge in NY indefinitely blocks ICE from making arrests at immigration courthouses
The judge said a Trump rule change lifting restrictions on such arrests violated administrative procedure law.
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Oct 1, 2026 at 5:47 p.m. ET
Lawyer challenging NYC rent freeze releases Mamdani officials’ emails and text messages
A judge had ordered officials to turn over correspondence with the Rent Guidelines Board. Randy Mastro has now asked the court to make them sit for interviews.
By
David Brand
News
Lawyer challenging NYC rent freeze releases Mamdani officials’ emails and text messages
A judge had ordered officials to turn over correspondence with the Rent Guidelines Board. Randy Mastro has now asked the court to make them sit for interviews.
By
David Brand
Push to strengthen NY sexual assault laws gathers steam after Cornell rape allegations
By
Walter Wuthmann
and
Jon Campbell
NYC mulls building temporary highway in sky over Brooklyn Bridge to fix BQE
By
Liam Quigley
and
Carol Chen
The most expensive congressional race in NJ history? This could be the one.
By
Mike Hayes
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .