Election season is in full swing in New York City. Candidates are running ads, campaign posters are outside of every bodega, and once again, your phone is buzzing with texts asking you to donate, making you wonder: how did they get my number?
Early voting for the primary is already here, and the future of New York is on the ballot in 2025, from City Hall down to your local City Council member. Voters have the chance to make your voice heard on issues that matter most to you, your family, and your community.
At NYC Votes, the government-powered initiative powered by the Campaign Finance Board, we want to make sure every New Yorker understands the power they hold to participate in this election and have a real impact on the outcome. Voting in local New York City elections is different from voting in national elections for two main reasons: matching funds and ranked-choice voting.
You may not know that New York City has the nation’s strongest regulations on money in politics and a nationally-renowned public matching funds program, which makes it easier for everyday New Yorkers to run for office by matching local contributions with public funds.
Our matching funds program takes your small-dollar donations and multiplies them. For every contribution up to $250, the program matches it at an $8 to $1 rate. So, if you donate $10 to a candidate, the campaign gets $90, which helps pay for costs including staff or campaign materials. (Also through the program, every dollar raised and spent in the election gets audited, ensuring candidates are using your money the right way).
Our research shows that the CFB’s matching funds program is working and encouraging more non-traditional candidates to run for office. Thanks to New Yorkers like you, in 2021, we elected the most diverse City Council in the city’s history, including the first-ever majority-female Council body.
Running for office shouldn’t be about who has the most money, but about who wants to help the most people. Matchable small-dollar contributions from New Yorkers mean that candidates rely on you instead of special interests. The CFB gives everyday New Yorkers like us a bigger say in who represents us, making our local government one that works for the people.
While matching funds give us more choices at the ballot box, ranked-choice voting makes it so we can support multiple candidates instead of just one. 2021’s primary elections introduced voters to Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), which gives us the option to rank up to five candidates on their ballot. Ranked choice voting means every individual vote has more power. By ranking their top five candidates, voters are more likely to have their choice reflected in the final outcome.
Here’s how it works: On each ballot, voters can select their first-choice candidate, second choice, third, fourth, and fifth, in order of preference. They can select as many, up to five, or as few candidates as they wish, but the more candidates they decide to rank, the more likely it is that their vote will impact the final outcome.
If a candidate gets 50% of the votes in the first round, that contender wins the primary. If no candidate meets that threshold, the candidate with the least amount of votes gets eliminated, and the voters who ranked that candidate first will have their second choice votes dispersed amongst the remaining candidates. This process continues until the first-place candidate gets more than 50% of the votes. While it can take some time for ballots to be counted, especially for citywide races like the mayor, most races are decided in the first round.
With last year’s presidential election in the rearview mirror, now is your chance to vote for decision makers who will shape the future of our city. By amplifying small-dollar donations and using ranked-choice voting, New York City voters have more power than ever to participate in our local democracy.
You can find a complete list of what and who will be on your ballot by checking out the Voter Guide at nycvotes.org/voterguide. New Yorkers can vote early in-person, by mail, or on Primary Day. Early voting runs until Sunday, June 22, and Primary Day is June 24. It’s worth thinking ahead and making a plan to vote. Ten minutes out of your day could make a real difference in your community.
Ryan is the executive director of the New York City Campaign Finance Board.
