Professor McDaniel: NYC Mayoral Election Issues Result in 'Tragic Story'

MISSION LOCAL (SAN FRANCISCO) -- Research by scholars like San Francisco State’s Jason McDaniel reveal that it has not expanded voter participation. It has not reduced the ferocity of campaigning (even if candidates are incentivized to be nicer and more likable in order to reap those No. 2 votes, everybody knows that independent expenditure campaigns can still unleash floods of cash and negativity). Ranked-choice voting does do away with sparse-turnout runoff elections, but even this eliminates the head-to-head campaign both candidates and voters crave to bestow legitimacy. “In the current environment, people are willing and ready to doubt elections, especially if their candidate loses,” McDaniel says. “The language used by the Adams campaign and the unrelated error by the New York City Board of Elections poison the well. The Board of Elections truly messed up. This is a tragic story.”