From Slack:
Fellow NY'rs, action is needed! SB5259 has been placed on the calendar and would direct the state BOE to study implementing Ranked Choice Voting statewide. It needs to include STAR voting at the minimum if not more options as well. No point in a study that doesn't consider all the solutions to the problem.
Visit NYsenate.gov and Ask your senator & the sponsors (Liz Kreuger & Rachel May) to include STAR voting. We need a comprehensive study if we are going to spend public money on something this important. Feel free to leave a comment (different than sending a message) and vote Aye or Nay on this bill as you see fit (I believe you can change it later if it gets amended, I voted Aye.) You can also go further by tweeting at them if you have a twitter account.
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2023/s5259
In my letter I focused on the motivations mentioned in the bill:
Many advocates argue that ranked choice voting promotes consensus candidates acceptable to the largest number of voters and prevent factional candidates from winning crowded races with less than majority support.
And linked a bunch of research/articles about how the proposed method doesn't actually deliver on this promise. It would be great if a lot of other people could write them and tell them to include better methods in their study, lest we get stuck with Hare RCV.
If your senator is Republican, make sure to mention that neither FPTP nor Hare RCV (would have) worked for them in Alaska, but better consensus-focused voting methods would have won them a seat.
