Making elections more democratic? In NYC, it's like ranking ice cream flavors.
The candidates for mayor in the nation’s largest city are, arguably, as diverse as the residents they seek to represent.
NEW YORK − The candidates for mayor in the nation’s biggest city are, arguably, more diverse than the residents they seek to represent.
Among those in New York City’s June 24 primary election are a disgraced former governor; a democratic socialist state representative (and former rapper); a street performer named Paperboy who dons a clown face; and a former hedge fund executive trying to channel Mike Bloomberg.
With so many options, New Yorkers will choose their next mayor like they pick ice cream in the summer. The city’s ranked choice system allows voters to choose their top five candidates for mayor, plus top picks in other city races.
Even if your top choice doesn't make it, you can still get flavors, or candidates, you prefer.
Ranked choice “allows for people to vote in a way that expresses how they feel,” said Susan Kang, an associate professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
The system aims to give voters more choices in a crowded field of nearly a dozen Democratic and a handful of Republican mayoral hopefuls in closed primaries for both parties. It also hopes to bring up candidates from underrepresented backgrounds, often without access to vast campaign war chests.
The system, first approved by voters in 2019, has been used in elections around the country − from Alaska to Maine, and from San Francisco to tiny Woodland Hills, Utah (population 1,571). Other places, including Washington, D.C., have more recently adopted it. Australians use the system.
Winning New York City’s Democratic primary is almost always a ticket to City Hall in a city that’s about two-thirds registered Democrats.
How Cuomo vs. Mamdani shows ranked choice voting
Andrew Cuomo, New York’s longtime governor who resigned in 2021 after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment, had led comfortably in polls. Many voters see Cuomo, 67, as an experienced moderate executive who can fight President Donald Trump.
But with ranked choice, state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist calling to freeze rents, has inched ever closer to Cuomo.
That’s because under ranked choice, a candidate has to get more than 50% of the votes to win. While polls have Cuomo ahead, he’s unlikely to win a majority of first-round votes.
At each round, candidates with the fewest votes get eliminated. Voters who ranked less-supported candidates first will have their subsequent choices allocated to their next-ranked candidate.
New York first used ranked choice voting in 2021.
With many candidates vehemently opposed to Cuomo, their supporters' next-round votes can help Mamdani, who is endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive star.
The process continues until there are two candidates left. Cuomo is favored to win, though polling has tightened between the former governor and Mamdani.
Cross-endorsements, cooperation
The city’s first time using ranked choice, in 2021, resulted in the narrow, eighth-round victory of Eric Adams, the swaggering, scandal-plagued mayor. (Adams dropped out of the 2025 Democratic primary, opting to seek reelection as an independent.)
Back in 2021, Adams’ last standing opponent, Kathryn Garcia, received a late endorsement from candidate Andrew Yang after he was knocked out.
“The ranked choice voting system enables you to take advantage of being someone’s second- or third-place vote,” Yang, now a third-party advocate, told Paste BN. “A smart candidate will try and capitalize on that.”
In 2025, there are more cross-endorsements between Mamdani and other candidates to Cuomo’s left, such as city Comptroller Brad Lander and former lawmaker Michael Blake.
Ranked choice challenges
Under this relatively new system, voters need to know how to correctly rank their choices.
In a 2023 study, Lindsey Cormack, an associate professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, found higher levels of voided ballots in lower-income areas and communities with lower educational attainment. There were also issues among people who speak a language other than English.
“Anytime you change a system, you make it nominally harder, or at least the capacity for errors goes up, because there’s just more boxes to tick,” she said.
Complicating matters, New York City's primaries use ranked choice, but the general election does not. Nor do state or presidential elections.
Only growing beyond June 24 primary election
Politicians and experts agree that, with time, voters can get used to their new system. For now, ranked choice appears to continue expanding across cities and states.
In November, Washington, D.C., approved ranked-choice voting. Christina Henderson, one of the district’s at-large representatives and a Brooklyn native, supported ranked choice to help people dissatisfied with polarized politics.
“If provided the right information, they can make the right choice for themselves,” Henderson, an independent, said. “Now, the key is providing the right information.”
New York City’s primary is June 24. Early voting is underway.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.