Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

New York City allowed to move ahead with its first ranked-choice election

New York City
Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

New York City can move forward with its debut of ranked elections in seven weeks, because a state judge has turned back arguments the system would effectively disenfranchise minority voters.

The nation's biggest city has become the most populous and prominent place in the nation to embrace ranked-choice voting, an alternative election system hailed in the democracy reform world as a topflight way to combat polarization in governance.

Six members of the City Council's Black, Latino and Asian Caucus and other community organizations sued this month to delay its implementation, arguing election officials do not have enough time to ready the switch and educate voters about the new system. But with three-quarters of voters having approved RCV a year ago, supporters labeled that an attempt to subvert the will of the people.


State Supreme Court Justice Carol Edmead did not go that far Wednesday. Instead, she ruled a delay could disenfranchise military voters, whose ballots are scheduled to be mailed Friday for a Feb. 2 special election to fill a vacant council seat in Queens.

"This court is disinclined to take any action that may result in the disenfranchisement of even one voter or take any action that may result in even one voter's ballot being nullified," she wrote in her three-page ruling.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Under the new system, New Yorkers may rank up to five candidates in order of preference in primaries and special elections. If no candidate wins outright by securing a majority of top-choice votes, an instant runoff takes place. The person listed No. 1 on the fewest ballots is eliminated, and the second-choice votes on those ballots are counted instead. The process continues until one person emerges with a majority of support.

But as the debut draws near, opponents have raised concerns that election officials are far from ready and that people in minority communities will be especially harmed. City Council critics point to an array of Board of Elections mishaps this year, including ballot delivery delays, erroneous ballot envelope mailings and long lines at polling places.

The elections board plans to start its public education campaign and training of poll workers in two weeks. RCV advocacy groups are also helping to inform voters about the new system.

While it's likely the judge's ruling will be appealed, supporters of ranked-choice voting are still celebrating this win. They see the new system as boosting overall turnout and bolstering the chances of nonwhite candidates.

The main event for RCV next year will be the city's Democratic mayoral primary in June, which will be tantamount to picking a successor to the term-limited incumbent, Bill DeBlasio. More than a dozen people are expected to join the field, and the new system will assure none of them gets the nod with a small share of the vote. Still, at least two of the most prominent candidates, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Black business executive Ray McGuire, have become critics of RCV in recent weeks — arguing it has the potential to suppress the Black and Latino vote. Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who has signaled he plans to run for mayor, endorsed ranked-choice voting while seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

Read More

Bridgebuilding Effectiveness

Hands together in unison.

Getty Images, VioletaStoimenova

Bridgebuilding Effectiveness

In a time of deep polarization and democratic fragility, bridgebuilding has become a go-to approach for fostering civic cohesion in the U.S. Yet questions persist: Does it work? And how do we know?

With declining trust, rising partisanship, and even political violence, many are asking what the role of dialogue might be in meeting democracy’s demands. The urgency is real—and so is the need for more strategic, evidence-based approaches.

Keep ReadingShow less
After Decades of Taking Others’ Freedom, Prosecutors Cry Foul Over Fixing Their Mistakes

A small Lady Justice statue.

Getty Images, MarianVejcik

After Decades of Taking Others’ Freedom, Prosecutors Cry Foul Over Fixing Their Mistakes

Louisiana District Attorneys Association (LDAA), a special interest lobbying group, stands in the way of justice in Louisiana. On May 21, the LDAA successfully blocked a legislative pathway for hundreds of people to receive fair constitutional trials. Louisiana is the only state in the United States of America where people are serving sentences in prison, some for life, where a jury did not agree on whether they were guilty.

For nearly 1,000 people in Louisiana prisons, a jury could have found them guilty but instead returned a verdict that would be called a “hung jury” if the case had been tried in Alabama, Texas, New York, California, Mississippi, and other states.

Keep ReadingShow less
A Community Response to Disabled Gun Violence Survivors

A Community Response to Disabled Gun Violence Survivors

“What did you see once you got shot?” That might not be one of the first things victims of gun violence are asked, but it was the first question Access Living asked in a survey used to address and assess the many difficulties survivors of gun violence faced.

The nation’s gun violence crisis continues to be a significant threat to people’s lives, as it has claimed over 10,000 lives in the United States every year for the past 10 years, according to Gun Violence Archive. Only three months into 2025, there have been over 100 shootings reported in Chicago, and this will probably continue to rise, as in the country in 2023, on average, 118 people died of gun violence a day. According to the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation, for every person who dies due to gun violence, more than two survive, usually with significant lifelong physical injuries that they have to learn to live with, along with the mental trauma of the incident.

Keep ReadingShow less