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A lawsuit to delay ranked-choice voting in New York City has hit its first roadblock: the state judge in the case has denied a request for a temporary restraining order. The ruling could be a death knell for the lawsuit, which would result in ranked-choice voting proceeding unimpeded next year, even as the plaintiffs continue to fight.
After hearing arguments, Judge Carol Edmead denied a request from a half-dozen City Council members, including Adrienne Adams and I. Daneek Miller, and several community groups seeking a temporary restraining order to stop ranked-choice voting from being used in the upcoming special election to replace former Council Member Rory Lancman in Queens. Scheduled for Feb. 2, it would be the first election in the city to use the new system approved by voters in 2019.
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Six New York City Council members and several community groups have brought a lawsuit meant to delay the implementation of ranked-choice voting. The complaint aims to prevent ranked-choice voting from being used in an upcoming special election for Council District 24 in Queens, but could also lead to a delay that affects the June primaries as well.
Voters approved ranked-choice, or instant-runoff, voting in a ballot referendum last year, but concern has arisen that the city won’t be ready to implement the new system next year. It was the subject of a heated City Council hearing on Monday, when several of the Council members who brought this case expressed outrage about the rollout of education. “I believe there is an impossibility to educate people in the amount of time necessary on what ranked-choice voting will mean,” Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo, one of the plaintiffs, said at that hearing. She added that it should be “postponed for another election year.�
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