The number of ballots a candidate appears on--the total number of voters who rank them--is the maximum number of votes they can win. The more voters that rank a candidate, the higher their possible vote total. But in order to access all of those votes, a candidate cannot be eliminated too early.
Imagine a candidate who is ranked second on every single ballot but first on none. They'd be eliminated in the first round, even though they're presumably the candidate most acceptable to the greatest number of voters. In other words, you don't want a broadly popular candidate to be eliminated if they have access to a greater number of potential votes than their competitors.
My argument is that Adrienne Adams is the candidate with the potential for the broadest appeal--that among Cuomo's challengers, she has the highest upside to be ranked by the greatest number of voters. The risk for Adams, then, is that she's ranked too low by too many voters and gets eliminated before she can access all of those potential votes.
Assuming you don't have strong preferences among the candidates, whichever of your preferred candidates you think will be ranked on the greatest number of ballots is the candidate you should rank first. The process ends up being self-fulfilling, of course--a candidate must be perceived as popular to benefit from their popularity!
Let me know if all that makes sense! Thanks again for reading and commenting.
Thanks for reading! That's an excellent question.
The number of ballots a candidate appears on--the total number of voters who rank them--is the maximum number of votes they can win. The more voters that rank a candidate, the higher their possible vote total. But in order to access all of those votes, a candidate cannot be eliminated too early.
Imagine a candidate who is ranked second on every single ballot but first on none. They'd be eliminated in the first round, even though they're presumably the candidate most acceptable to the greatest number of voters. In other words, you don't want a broadly popular candidate to be eliminated if they have access to a greater number of potential votes than their competitors.
My argument is that Adrienne Adams is the candidate with the potential for the broadest appeal--that among Cuomo's challengers, she has the highest upside to be ranked by the greatest number of voters. The risk for Adams, then, is that she's ranked too low by too many voters and gets eliminated before she can access all of those potential votes.
Assuming you don't have strong preferences among the candidates, whichever of your preferred candidates you think will be ranked on the greatest number of ballots is the candidate you should rank first. The process ends up being self-fulfilling, of course--a candidate must be perceived as popular to benefit from their popularity!
Let me know if all that makes sense! Thanks again for reading and commenting.
Back in the New York Groove
Speaker Adams has gotta be a Mets fan, right?
One hopes!