In 2020, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly rejected changing state elections by implementing Instant Runoff Voting otherwise known as Ranked Choice Voting (RCV).
According to reports filed with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance, a handful of out of staters funded the vast majority of the losing campaign in Massachusetts, spending over $10 million dollars in the process. However, in 2019, the voters of New York City (NYC) supported adoption of RCV. On June 22 of this year, NYC voters experienced their first recent RCV election with a botched rollout that has seen delayed results, confused and mixed messages from city election officials, and test ballots being mixed into live ballot counts.
“Despite a full court press from the elitist political class and the opinion sections of certain ideologically driven newspapers, Massachusetts voters were smart to reject RCV last year. New York City’s current experience is demonstrating the wisdom of that decision. NYC’s election is their first and the largest RCV election in the country and is proving to be an embarrassing mistake—a mistake ordinary Massachusetts voters were smart enough to avoid,” stated Paul Diego Craney, spokesperson for MassFiscal.
According to the Pro-RCV campaign website and social media pages, the list of endorsements for RCV in Massachusetts included the Boston Globe editorial, US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, former Congressman Joe Kennedy III, former Senator John Kerry, former Governors Bill Weld and Deval Patrick, and Congressmen Jim McGovern, Ayanna Pressley, Jake Auchincloss, and various state politicians.
“If only the voters of NYC and the political class in Massachusetts were as wise as ordinary Massachusetts voters, they wouldn’t have to deal with the consequences of a complex, opaque, and flawed election system. Massachusetts should feel a deep sense of confidence that they chose correctly in last year’s election,” continued Craney.
“MassFiscal and our allies were very pleased to play a big role in educating the public on the flaws associated with RCV and we warned the public about the potential downside that NYC is experiencing on a much wider scale. Luckily, Massachusetts voters trusted our opinion when they went out to vote,” concluded Craney.