NY S00421

Authorizes local governments (counties, cities, towns, villages, and school districts) to conduct elections using instant runoff voting for specified offices including school board members, county executives and legislators, mayors, city council members, and town supervisors for elections held in 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Requires voters to rank candidates by order of preference on ballots; if no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and those votes are redistributed to each voter's next choice, continuing until a candidate achieves a majority.

Mandates that local governments adopting instant runoff voting must pass a resolution at least 180 days before the election and conduct voter education campaigns to familiarize the public with the new voting method.

Applies only when three or more candidates are nominated for an office and is subject to permissive referendum by voters in the local government.

Expires December 31, 2016, automatically repealing all provisions of the act at that date.