Primary and special elections will never be the same with ranked choice voting going into effect in 2021, and seeing as primaries are the deciding factor in Democrat-heavy New York City, it’s going to be important.
The new a ballot format that allows them to choose from most to least favorite for office. This new format will be used for the Bronx March 23 special elections Districts 11 and 15. Candidates in the running will be competing for seats formerly held by City Councilmember Andy Cohen, who vacated his District 11 seat in January to become a Bronx Supreme Court judge, and that of Ritchie Torres of District 15 who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November.
The early voting periods for these elections run from March 13 to March 21, and voters can visit www.vote.nyc/page/bronx-11th-and-15th-council-districts-special-election for information on absentee ballot registration and details on early voting days. To vote in person on an early voting day you must vote at your assigned early voting site, which you can find by visiting https://findmypollsite.vote.nyc/. To find out what District you live in and whether you are eligible to vote in these elections you can go to www.mygovnyc.org. The Bronx Times will be updating you in the coming weeks with information on all of the candidates, but you can also check them out yourself here https://vote.nyc/page/list-candidates.
What will the ballot look like?
Ballots in upcoming elections will give voters five choices to either give a tier one rank to five. However, if they wish to simply only vote for one candidate and leave the rest of the bubbles blank.
If none of the candidates get by with a 50% majority, the candidate with the least rank is eliminated and second choice votes are counted until a winner is determined.
According to the city Campaign Finance Board, giving one candidate ranks one through five will result in not have a second choice and giving multiple candidates top choice will render your ballot invalid by the Board of Elections.
