[rayiner]

The experience with mail in voting and RCV in NYC is a textbook example of “in theory theory and practice are the same, but in practice they’re different.” RCV is undoubtedly a superior voting model to FPTP. And making it easier to vote is good too. But does it feel as decisive and reliable to your average non-college graduate as a FPTP election where results come down the same day?

The most important consideration for elections, of course, is not theoretical optimality, but whether they are perceived as fair and secure.

[bhupy]

But RCV works just fine in places like Maine (statewide), Oregon, Minnesota, Colorado, Michigan, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maryland (select localities). It works just fine in Australia (nationwide), along with several other nations.

I live (and voted) in NYC, and while this entire debacle is a comical embarrassment, I'm not at all convinced that any of this can bet attributed to ranked choice voting.

On the point of perceived fairness, the most recent poll (https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/06/28/poll-finds-new-yorke...) found that 95%(!!) of respondents found the ballot simple to complete, and 77% want to use RCV again. Granted, this poll was administered by organizations which lobbied for RCV in the first place, but I have a hard time believing that the margin of error could be in excess of 45%. It may very well be that a contingent of non-college graduate voters in NYC perceive RCV the way you describe, but they're decidedly in the minority — at least in NYC.

[dllthomas]

Theory that says theory and practice are the same is bad theory. Theory is perfectly capable of acknowledging (not eliminating!) the difference.

> RCV is undoubtedly a superior voting model to FPTP.

I've actually come to doubt this, when speaking of IRV in particular. I think "step 1: eliminate compromise" is questionable at best. "IRV but only the first n<<N choices" seems even worse.

[chimeracoder]

This is an issue with the NYC Board of Elections, not with RCV. Plenty of other jurisdictions already use RCV with no issue.

Unlike in every other jurisdiction in the country, the NYC Board of Elections is not an independent agency and is not accountable to elected officials. It's run by party leaders who nominate their own allies (oftentimes family), with disastrous consequences[0]. It's been criticized for years, but eliminating it would require passing legislation at the state level, and for various political reasons, that's an uphill battle.

This might be the latest bungle, but it's not the first. In fact, it happens almost every single election cycle in NYC.

- In November 2020, many voters actually received absentee ballots that were addressed to the wrong people: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/nyregion/absentee-ballot-...

- In July 2020, 20% of absentee ballots were rejected, which is a staggeringly high number https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/one-five-mail-bal...

- In 2019, the Board of Elections failed to meet state requirements to provide books of voter rolls to candidates, so instead they published the full voting records online, complete with the unredacted name, address, and party affiliation of every registered voter in the city, available for bulk download. After backlash, they took the information down.[1]

- In 2016, there were mass purges of eligible voters from voting rolls, in violation of both state and federal laws, which prevented voters from casting ballots in the 2016 primaries[2]. This resulted in a federal lawsuit[3], resulting in a settlement in which the Board of Elections actually admitted that it knowingly violated state and federal laws (unlike settlements where parties formally admit no wrongdoing)[4].

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/26/nyregion/nyc-voting-elect...

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/nyregion/nyc-personal-vot...

[2] https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/politics/campaigns-e...

[3] https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2017/ag-schneiderman-moves-i...

[4] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/new-york-city-boa...