We get it: Ranked choice voting, which first began in New York City in 2021, is complicated.
Fortunately, the journalists over at WNYC, a New York public radio station, created an interactive project to help voters make sense of how our election system works: by having New Yorkers vote for New York City’s “most iconic bagel.”
Similar to how “working-class underdog” Eric Adams won the ranked-choice vote for mayor in 2021, the results of WNYC’s ranked choice “bagelection,” as they’re calling it, might surprise you: The humble egg bagel — which, according to the station, is ”the color of sunshine” — came out in first place, beating out five other candidates on the mock ballot: salt, cinnamon raisin, pumpernickel, “scooped” and, uh, “donut” (which, last time we checked, is definitely not a bagel).
More than 2,000 people voted over the three days the ranked-choice ballot was open. When the winner was announced Friday morning on social media, New Yorkers had feelings — not necessarily about the winner itself but about the disappointing pool of candidates.
“Why were these the choices,” Instagram user @allisonm610 wrote succinctly on WNYC’s post.
Social media users noticed a few key bagels missing from the candidate pool.
“How did the everything bagel not make it onto the ballot?!” wrote @misha_meder, best summarizing the first reaction of the New York Jewish Week’s editorial staff. “Conspiracy!!!”
One user, @laurieinqueens, wrote authoritatively: “I’m a native New Yorker and have never had an egg bagel or scooped bagel. Plain, sesame and everything are the real NYC bagels. The rest are posers.”
At least one user raised doubt about whether the election was even called in good faith. “I swear someone made this just to piss off New Yorkers… how can a donut even be in this race?!” @instagr0m_ commented.
Even egg bagel loyalists voiced surprise about the election amid their preferred candidate’s victory — after all, it is a flavor that’s not readily available at every bagel spot. “I am solidly team egg, but i am always on the hunt for the elusive everything egg bagel,” @justjeff64 wrote. “it’s not a staple of all bagelries but it totally should be.”
It turns out there was a method to the madness.
On Friday’s Morning Edition program, two staffers from NYC Votes — an initiative of the city’s Campaign Finance Board, and independent city agency that “ensures local elections are fair, inclusive and open,” which collaborated with WNYC on the mock election — joined the broadcast to break down how the bagel results were tabulated. During the episode, host Michael Hill, who’d seen the outcry about the candidates on social media, explained why some of the classics were not in the running.
First, Timothy Hunter, the press secretary at the Campaign Finance Board, explained, “as soon as a candidate gets more than 50%, they immediately win, whether it’s first-round, second-round or third-round” of the ranked-choice election.
If one bagel candidate had run away with more than 50% of first-choice votes, then the election would’ve ended in one round, and the educational exercise would’ve been cut short.
“We tried to avoid that by making the candidates a little less conventional choices,” Hill said. (Hence the odd options of “donut” — again, not a bagel — and “scooped,” which is an action, not a flavor, that some consider a shanda.)
With no runaway favorite, the NYC poll thus became a laboratory for explaining how ranked-choice voting works. Egg bagel received the most first-place votes with 820 — which, because it was less than half of the total first-choice votes cast, necessitated further rounds of counting. (Pumpernickel had the next-most first-place votes with 604.)
Then, candidates with the fewest first-place votes were eliminated, one by one, and the oddballs who picked them had their second-choice orders tabulated. The site ran successive rounds until one bagel was crowned to rule them all.
The rankings of the bagelection went, in order from worst to best finish: scooped, donut, cinnamon raisin, salt, pumpernickel and egg. (Given the available choices, this reporter would have sided with the ultimate winner.)
During the broadcast, Hill then addressed the many outraged social media users (is there any other kind?) head-on. “All of you taking us to task in the comments for not including an everything bagel — well, now you know why.”
Ultimately, we think that’s the takeaway here: Knowledge — in ranked-choice elections, at the bagel counter, or just about any situation you find yourself in — is power.
Ahead of the June 24 primary, early voting for New York City’s mayoral Democratic primary is currently underway. For a Jewish guide to who’s in the running, click here.
The New York Jewish Week brings you the stories behind the headlines, keeping you connected to Jewish life in New York. Help sustain the reporting you trust by donating today.
