Why Did Inside City Hall Have only Pro Rank Choice Voting Advocates?

  Watching New York One Inside City Hall Friday night October 25th I was amazed to see two pro Proposition One speakers only, talking (and lying about) Rank Choice Voting with no anti Proposition One speaker.

There are three parts to Proposition One.

Part One - Rank Choice Voting. 

For school boards, voters ranked their votes one through nine for nine school board seats. Votes were dropped down to meet a quota that many did not. The reason not everyone voted for nine candidates, and a good percentage of votes were eliminated..

Rank Choice Voting is for only one position.

In round one of Rank Choice Voting a candidate must obtain one vote over 50% of the total votes cast in order not to have an instant run off. 

In round two the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and the votes are given to the second choice. A candidate then needs 50% of the remaining votes after all ballots with no number two choice are taken out.

In round two while the goal is to have a winner with over 50% of the vote, it is not of the total vote, but of the votes left in that round.

The same holds true for rounds three, four, and five if needed. Thus the winner of Rank Choice Voting could wind up with more votes than the original highest vote getter, but still not over 50% of the original total vote cast, the goal of Rank Chioce Voting. That then becomes a fraud upon the public.

To a question of how one candidate would be chosen to be eliminated if two candidates had the same exact number of votes (including any drop down) I was told by David Seitzer Counsel for Charter 2019 (who called me to try to answer my questions asked at forums the presenters couldn't, hosted by Charter 2019) said that is one of the problems that could come up.

Part two of Proposition one is to increase the time allowed to fill a vacancy that may occur from 45 days to 80 days. That would almost double the time of nonrepresentation for the people of said vacant district. 

Part three would add to the timeline for redistricting for city primary elections in 2023. Petitioning for the city primary election in June 2023 would begin in February as the primary in 2023 would be held in June and not September as in previous elections (with the exception of 2021). For the 2012 primary election held in September of 2012 the voter registration books were not ready until after the primary election of 2012. Upon asking Ms. Valerie Cazquez-Diaz the Director of Communications and Public Affairs for the NYC Board of Elections how the 2023 voter registration books would be ready, she answered that would have to be done if Proposition One is passed.

Since the two people on New York One Inside City Hall were in favor of Rank Choice Voting, I challenge Spectrum Cable, New York One, Inside City Hall host Errol Lewis, and producer Bob Hardt to give me equal time to talk against Proposition One on this years ballot.

Robert Press

Mr. Lewis or Mr. Hardt I can be reached at 718-644-4199 or at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com