What A Day - Ranked Choice State Of Mind

Episode Date: June 22, 2021

New York City holds its mayoral primary, today, one of the highest profile elections since the presidential election and a super visible test of ranked-choice voting. Closing messages in the last days touched on police violence, public safety, economic recovery and more. We spoke with Emma Fitzsimmons, City Hall Bureau Chief for the New York Times, about the four leading candidates, and we interviewed voters to get their perspective, too.And in headlines: SCOTUS strikes down NCAA’s restrictions on antitrust violations, the Biden administration won’t be able to deliver 80 million COVID vaccine doses abroad on time, and Steven Spielberg and Netflix bury the hatchet and announce a movie distribution deal.Show Notes:Edith!: The Untold True-ish Story Of America’s Secret First Female President – https://crooked.com/podcast-series/edith/NYC Voting: Meet the candidates – https://www.voting.nyc/meet-the-candidates/2021-races/NYC Voting: Get matched with a candidate – https://projects.thecity.nyc/meet-your-mayor/ultimate-match.htmlFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Tuesday, June 22nd. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What The Day, the podcast that requires you to show your coronavirus vaccine card to listen. Yeah, not sure you guys knew, but we've been taking control of the cameras on your phones and you're all good to go. Yeah, this is a massive privacy violation, by the way. Right, but who gonna stop us? Nobody. On today's show, we give you an overview of one of the highest profile elections

since the presidential election, then some headlines. It's almost voting time. Get out and vote on Tuesday. Let's give New York City the kind of change we've been waiting for. OK, so that's New York City's mayoral candidate Andrew Yang talking to the outlet New York One campaigning on the last weekend before today's primary. He is one of 13 in the running for the Democratic side alone. So, Gideon, you've spent some time talking to other reporters, voters and people on the the Democratic side alone. So Gideon, you've spent some time talking to other reporters, voters, and people on the ground all about this. So what do we know about

what's on the minds of voters at the moment? Oh, a lot, it seems. So New York, of course, is just one city. But this is one of the first major elections the country has seen since coming out of the worst of the pandemic. And really, in some ways, what this is about is a city looking for a leader with Bill de Blasio on his way out after eight years to help guide New York after COVID ravaged the community, and perhaps also a referendum on policing after a major movement last year. So what happens in New York could be really important for other Democratic politicians around the country. Now for New Yorkers themselves, one of their biggest issues of late seems to be crime and public safety. That could definitely mean different things to different people, depending on who you ask.

But it is a signifier to some of the left who are concerned that momentum around rethinking or defunding police has stalled since last year, or at least that a mayoral candidate representing those views isn't a clear favorite. For example, a poll of voters by New York One from a few weeks ago found that crime and public safety, kind of nebulous, displaced COVID-19 as the top concern for voters. Then, of course, there's affordable housing, especially in the current economy that is big on people's minds as well. I spoke with Emma Fitzsimmons. She is the City Hall Bureau Chief for The New York Times who broke it down like this. Candidates have talked a lot about affordable housing, even before the pandemic, Bill de Blasio was talking about affordability, and people are really concerned that it's just completely unaffordable to live in New York City. So that's a big issue and poverty also. I mean, that's what

Bill de Blasio ran on in 2013. He ran on a tale of two cities and that he was going to address inequality. And he has in some ways, but people feel like that promise is still unfinished. Yeah, and that's going to be a running issue for the rest of the country too. A recent housing report from Harvard found that nationwide, the pandemic has only accelerated the housing inequality we have, with richer people being able to buy homes with savings, while those who are less well off were locked out of the market because of higher costs. Yeah, so that brings us to the candidates. Give us a rundown on who they are and where they stand on all these big issues.

Yeah, so we are going to focus on the Democratic candidates for now because the winner of that primary shock surprise is almost certainly going to be the next mayor. Sorry to spoil it. But over the last few days, we kind of saw closing messages that ran the gamut of issues,

police violence, public safety, economic recovery, and what change actually means. So for now, there are four leading candidates heading into today. And Emma Fitzsimmons broke down their general pitches. And it was mostly about crime and safety. So let's start with Eric Adams. He is the frontrunner in the race. He is leading in the polling. And he's really focused on public safety. He was out today

on Saturday at the scene of a shooting incident in the Bronx. And he was talking about how everyone is worried about public safety. And so he's really focused on that. He's saying as a former police captain, he's the only candidate who can both address this rise in violence and also reform the police department. And so he's really sticking to that theme. Next up, we have Catherine Garcia, the city's former sanitation commissioner. She's a moderate, but she's really running on competence. She had a lot of different jobs in city government, and she's saying, I'm the crisis manager who can pull us out of the pandemic. Next up, we have Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate. He started his campaign really as wanting to be the city's cheerleader.

But in recent weeks, he's focused on public safety as well. I think he realizes that New Yorkers are worried about crime and that that's a message that he can try to bring home. So he was endorsed by the former police captain's union, which is Eric Adams' former union. And he's saying the police captains support me as someone who can help bring down crime. And so he's really focused on crime. But at the final debate, he received criticism because he said, we really need to get mentally ill people off the streets. And people felt like that was insensitive. And then rounding out the top four, we have Maya Wiley, who has really become the progressive candidate in the race. She was endorsed by AOC and other progressive leaders and two other candidates who are running against her in the left lane. Their campaigns face setbacks. And so now Maya

is really the prominent progressive in the race. And that's what she's running on. Yes, that's a quick rundown. But to give all the candidates some shine here, some of the other people in the running, Scott Stringer, the the country may use it for local elections, but obviously none are as high profile or even have as many voters as New York City. So can you explain how that's going to work and if it might start a larger trend? I can definitely try the first. So we might have also heard this being called instant runoff voting, if that's what your flavor is. But basically, voters of the city are going to have an opportunity to rank up to five candidates in order of preference.

If a candidate were to clear more than 50% of first choice votes in that first round, then that person wins and we can go to bed. If no one does, the person in last gets eliminated, then officials go back to the ballots of people who voted for that person and then reassign the votes based on their second choice. And that'll keep going with the people that are in last place until there are

just two remaining candidates. Of those last two, the person in the lead wins. Yeah, so we don't know for sure. And I am not a mathematician. There are a lot of candidates in this primary, which means it's probably pretty unlikely that anyone clears that 50 percent right away. Yeah. I mean, I'm not a mathematician either, but I am going to agree with your assessment there, your math assessment. And that means we likely won't know who won tonight. So here's Fitzsimmons again. Let's say Eric Adams has received 20 percent of support among first choices, but they won't actually run the rank choices until a week later. So we will know who's ahead on election night, but it will take several weeks to figure out

an official winner. A week after election night, they'll run the rank choices for the first time. A week after that, they'll run the same computer program with absentee ballots. Yeah. So it's possible there won't be an official winner until July 12th. Oh, my gosh. So I mean, hopefully it's not as dire as the presidential election. We were up for an entire week. Hopefully you're not up for three weeks straight. But you know, just pace yourselves. Yeah, pace yourselves out there. And you know, rank choice has led to some strategic campaigning already, with Garcia and Yang campaigning together this past weekend and Yang explicitly telling voters to rank him first and then Garcia second. Eric Adams wasn't happy about that and has been all

over the place saying that it's an effort to suppress black voters. I mean, I just got to say, I think there are easier ways to suppress black voters than giving them more options or weirder options in an election. But fine. On that note, what have voters had to say about this whole process? Yeah, so some people are definitely liking the opportunity, but it does require a lot of research, especially if you do a full ranking for, say, comptrollers, city council, some of the more local races. Here's Nancy Ruddy, a voter in Brooklyn, telling me about the process for her. I think we as New Yorkers are going to learn from this. I was definitely in there about three or four times longer than I do to vote. And you sort of feel a greater responsibility because you're

not just voting for one person. You're voting for a series of positions and how they'll be jockeying. So I think it's going to be interesting for us to see how we feel about it. So I had tons of material at home, tons of material walking here. And so it made you learn more about many candidates, not just the candidate that you are going to be voting for. Yeah, and here's Khadijah Hall, an Adams supporter, who I spoke with at an event for the candidate. There's no fifth place winner. There's no fourth place winner. There's only a first place winner.

So, I mean, it's something new to think about. I think pretty much people have their mind made up who their first and only choice is. I'm only going to, like I said, I'm going to vote for two other people, but I think Adams has it in the bag. Well, we'll see. We're going to check back in on where things stand tomorrow. But if you are in New York City, please go vote. And if you'd like some resources to help you do so, we are going to link to them in our show notes. But that is the latest for now.

It's Tuesday, WOD Squad, and today we are recommending more good, chill stuff that will make you smarter, better, and generally cooler. This is WOD Recommends. Yeah, and today we have two comedy writers joining us. Travis Helwig, who you know as Crooked's former head writer, the artist formerly known as. And Gonzalo Cordova, whose work you've seen on Tuca and Birdie and Jimmy Kimmel Live. They are the co-creators of Crooked's brand new scripted podcast, Edith, starring Rosamund Pike, which is out now wherever you listen to podcasts with new episodes dropping every Thursday. Welcome to the show, guys. Yeah, thank you for having us.

It's good to be back. I don't know where I am. We haven't told you. So really just in people's ears, like the magic school bus. All right, well, let's jump into it. What exactly is Edith? And what is one true reason that you think the WOD squad should check it out? Yeah, so Edith is the kind of true story of Edith Wilson, the first lady, to Woodrow Wilson, who secretly took over the presidency for nine months while he was incapacitated due to a stroke. So there's comedy, there's drama.

The real reason to check it out is if you want to hear Rosamund Pike be mean to people in your ears for 30 minutes at a time. I love that. That's honestly, is that even enough? Yeah, make it an hour. I think there's people who dedicate their lives wanting to hear Rosamund Pike be mean to them. So I think this is for you. Honestly, we love it. I will say, I want to give a sincere pitch on the show, which is I don't like scripted podcasts. Usually I really don't listen to them. It's not something I would seek out. You know me.

I'm a wide squad boy through and through. I used to write fast food jokes for John Lovett. That's what I that's my passion. But I'm very excited about it. And I think it's for people that are like if you're like me, who wouldn't necessarily seek something out like this, I think you might enjoy it. And then if not, Rosamund Pike will be mean to you. Yeah. You've created ASMR for an entire generation of fans with this, which is an accomplishment in and of itself.

If you play it low enough, yes. You have to play it real low. Super duper low. That's actually the preferred listening experience. Well, thank you so much for listening and considering our considerations. Thank you, Travis and Gonzalo for being here. We'll link the podcast in our show notes and we'll be back after some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines.

Headlines. The Supreme Court struck down the NCAA's restrictions on compensation as antitrust violations yesterday. For 115 years, the NCAA maintained that college athletes should only receive reimbursement for the estimated cost of attending college. Yesterday's decision okayed education-related benefits such as graduate scholarships and internships, but did not allow outright payment of salaries or endorsements. The association tried to argue that sports fans love the amateur aspect of college athletes. You know, I too only root for players with six figures of student loan debt and a meal plan that's just ramen and Uncrustables. This is why we play.

But proponents of the ruling say this will make a meaningful difference to student athletes, especially the ones who don't plan on playing professionally. I don't plan on playing professionally, so I'd like to. Anyway, the Biden administration will likely fall short of its goal to ship 80 million COVID vaccine doses abroad before the end of June. The White House announced a new outline for global vaccine allocations yesterday, with 60 million shots going to COVAX, the Global Vaccine Alliance, and 20 million going to specific partners. So far, less than 10 million doses have been shipped globally, including the 2.5 million that were delivered to Taiwan

and the 1 million doses delivered to Mexico, Canada, and South Korea. Officials say they are seeing delays due to the U.S. and other countries' legal, logistical, and regulatory requirements, despite having all the doses ready to ship out. Man, oh man. The man who once suggested that Netflix movies shouldn't get Oscars has changed his mind, and all it took was a global pandemic plus a dump truck full of money backed up to his house.

Steven Spielberg will be partnering with the streaming giant through his production company, Amblin Partners, in a deal that was announced yesterday. Amblin will make multiple features per year for Netflix, but will still work with Universal Pictures to release a separate slate of films and theaters. A high-profile collaboration with the guy behind E.T., Jurassic Park, Hook, and pretty much every other movie where kids go on adventures is a big get for Netflix, as it fends off competition for newer streamers like Disney Plus and HBO Max. I mean, whatever you gotta do, life comes at you fast. Reader's defensive end

and five-year veteran of the NFL, Carl Nassib, made history yesterday as the first active player in his league to come out as gay. Nassib made the announcement in an Instagram video that was extremely efficient and truly did not waste a single word. What's up, people? I'm Carl Nassib. I'm at my house here in Westchester, Pennsylvania. I just want to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay. I've been meaning to do this for a, Pennsylvania. Just want to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay. I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest. Go off. All right. So Nassib also said he wanted to promote a culture of acceptance and announced a $100,000 donation to the Trevor Project.

Damn. Also, in LGBTQ sports, New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard will compete in the Olympics in Tokyo, becoming the first openly transgender Olympian in history. As trans triathlete Chris Mosier pointed out online, the International Olympics Committee has had a policy for the inclusion of trans athletes since 2003. And since then, 54,000 people have competed in the Olympics and not a single one of them was openly trans. Yeah, I cannot wait for Republican politicians to react reasonably to all this news. Yeah, well, they can stay mad. And those are the headlines. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, ride your bike into the sky with an extraterrestrial and tell your friends to listen.

And if you're into reading and not just fictionalized biographies of first ladies like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And sorry for spying on your vaccine card. All these big companies get to spy.

I just felt left out. Yeah. We wanted to be like them and have special powers. Yeah, just be to be like them and have special powers. Yeah, just be close to y'all. But all right. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun and Jazzy Marine are our associate producers.

Our head writer is John Milstein, and our executive producers are Leo Duran, Akilah Hughes, and me. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.