{"id":532,"date":"2026-08-03T19:10:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=532"},"modified":"2026-08-03T19:10:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:10:38","slug":"confusion-legal-questions-surround-ranked-choice-voting-effort-in-city-of-albany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=532","title":{"rendered":"Confusion, legal questions surround ranked choice voting effort in city of Albany"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Advocates for ranked choice voting are making themselves known in Albany \u2013 but the version of the system they\u2019re pushing looks very different from the one New York City adopted in 2019, the only other example in the state. And the effort\u2019s getting messy after some residents and local officials signed a petition to put the issue on next year\u2019s ballot without realizing exactly what it would do. Now, progressives groups who championed the system downstate have suddenly found themselves opposing a version that would outright eliminate primaries in the capital city.<\/p>\n

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The Albany City Clerk\u2019s Office certified a petition last week circulated by the coalition Ranked Choice Voting Albany that would bring ranked choice voting to the capital city. But that\u2019s not all: It would create a single, nonpartisan general election for local city races to be held on Election Day each November, and would completely abolish party primaries. Candidates from all political parties and independent candidates would appear together on the same general election ballot with party registrations listed next to their names.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really like the idea that it lets everybody have a voice,\u201d said Dorian Solot, co-chair of Ranked Choice Voting Albany. \u201cThere are a lot of uncontested elections (here), and we realize with this small number of candidates in a small city, we really could save resources and have a simpler process.\u201d She added the cities of Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Francisco, California; Portland, Maine; Burlington, Vermont; and others successfully use a similar ranked voting model that forgoes a primary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The problem, however, is that New York City is not among the municipalities that use the nonpartisan system. Voters in the city adopted a version in 2019 that introduced ranked choice voting for municipal primary elections, leaving the general election contests untouched. And it\u2019s the main \u2013 and highest profile \u2013 example others around the state have to go on.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both Democratic and Capital District Working Families Party leaders initially signed on to the petition assuming Albany\u2019s ranked choice voting would resemble New York City\u2019s version \u2013 but now both have egg on their faces after realizing the proposal would eliminate primaries altogether. They expressed concern that doing away with primaries would violate the state constitution. And now they\u2019ve joined forces to defeat the proposal in a rare partnership.<\/p>\n

Multiple sources told City & State the Albany County Democratic Committee plans to sue the coalition over its proposal if it reaches the ballot over constitutional concerns. The Albany city clerk certified the petition and sent it to the common council, which could vote to put it on the ballot. Otherwise, the Ranked Choice Albany coalition would need to gather roughly 1,200 additional signatures before Nov. 1 to get a place on the ballot next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Solot defended the petition, and said election attorneys have advised the counsel it will hold up in court. \u201cJust because the Constitution tells you how to run a primary, it doesn\u2019t anywhere specifically say that a primary is required,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Albany Common Council Member Jack Flynn broadly supports ranked choice voting, and said he signed the coalition\u2019s petition in the spring without realizing it would eliminate primaries in the capital city. \u201cThen I started researching my own self, and I realized that the primary would be gone, and I was dumbfounded,\u201d he told City & State in an initial interview. \u201cI don\u2019t think that the voters are even aware of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

(In a subsequent text to City & State, Flynn tried to walk back his comments, saying he did know the Ranked Choice Albany proposal would end primaries when he signed the petition.)<\/p>\n

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Yet Flynn introduced an Albany Common Council ranked choice voting proposal last month that would adopt New York City\u2019s system, and keep both the primary and general elections intact. He initially said he introduced the measure to combat the Ranked Choice Albany proposal.<\/p>\n

But many misunderstood the petition\u2019s fine print. Ivette Alfonso, co-chair of the Capital District Working Families Party, said she also signed the petition without realizing it wasn\u2019t modeled after New York City\u2019s system. Alfonso said she was approached by a woman at a public event in the spring who asked if she supported rank choice voting, and signed the petition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I come to find out that it included eliminating primaries \u2013 they\u2019re calling it \u2018one unified election,\u2019\u201d Alfonso said. \u201cI blank on that phrase because it\u2019s so silly. I regret having just signed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Albany resident who signed the petition, but declined to be named, said she too signed because she supports ranked choice voting, and the volunteer who approached discussed supporting \u201ca single unified election,\u201d but did not make it clear that meant ending primary day for city races.<\/p>\n

Solot said the coalition has been clear about its proposal \u2013 its signs read \u201cOne election, everyone votes\u201d \u2013 and members have given dozens of presentations about it around the city, including to every neighborhood association.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other leaders from the Capital District Working Families Party were originally part of the coalition\u2019s steering committee as well and were in favor of its proposal, but have since come out against it. Capital District Working Families Party Secretary Andy Kaier said primary elections have been critical in electing progressive candidates endorsed by the party. The party also supports fusion voting, where two or more political parties list the same candidate on a ballot, which RCV Albany\u2019s proposal eliminates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re much more worried about the primary system in general because it’s no secret that that’s how the WFP has built its political power, both in Albany, in the Capital Region, and around New York state,\u201d Kaier said.<\/p>\n

Progressive Democratic Assembly Member Gabriella Romero, for example, ran on the Working Families Party line in a six-way primary race for the Albany Assembly seat in 2024, and won with about 30% of the vote, or 8.9% over runner-up Ginnie Farrell. Romero told City & State supports ranked choice voting as a whole to strengthen voter participation, but opposes open primaries in the state.<\/p>\n

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Ranked choice, but no primaries? Albany Dems and progressives are teaming up to defeat a proposal that would end them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,3,18],"tags":[16,7,19],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-albany-agenda","category-new-york-state","category-policy","tag-albany-agenda","tag-new-york-state","tag-policy"],"yoast_head":"\nConfusion, legal questions surround ranked choice voting effort in city of Albany - Business Relocation Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=532\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Confusion, legal questions surround ranked choice voting effort in city of Albany - Business Relocation Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ranked choice, but no primaries? 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