After a long and costly legal battle, the Town of Newburgh is about to institute a ranked choice voting system that's much different than any other ranked choice systems around the state.

Town officials have agreed to change their standard winner-take-all election process for town board seats to proportional ranked choice voting.

Under the system, each voter ranks their top choices on the ballot.

If their top choice is in last place after a round of counting, the candidate is eliminated and each of that candidate's votes automatically moves to the next choices on the ballots.

Once a candidate reaches enough votes to win a seat — in this case, 33% plus one vote — any more votes for that candidate go to the voters' next choices.

In essence, a winning candidate cannot run up the score after reaching the threshold to win a seat.

Ernest Tirado and five other town residents argued in the state Supreme Court that the town's current system violates the New York State Voting Rights Act of 2022 because it dilutes the voting power of Black and Hispanic people. The two groups make up close to 40% of the town's population, but seldom win town board seats.

Just before a trial was about to start, the town pitched the plaintiffs the new ranked choice system and they accepted.

"I thought it was weird," Tirado said in an interview Friday at his home, "but you know, as long as this gets us representation somehow, then, you know, that's what this lawsuit was about."

Depending on how many candidates are running and whether any one candidate dominates the vote, counting may continue for multiple rounds until two candidates reach the 33% plus one vote threshold.

The new system will likely ensure that candidates from each major party will win a seat in an election for two seats.

The plaintiffs' attorney, David Imamura, said the system's math makes a one-party sweep almost impossible in an election with candidates from both parties.

"Basically, it freezes the town board at 2 to 2," Imamura said Friday in a Zoom interview, "which is great for Black and brown communities because they literally didn't elect anyone [who is Black or Hispanic] ever until last year."

The town spent about $2 million in taxpayer dollars to fight an overhaul of its at-large voting system and avoid the town being split into voting wards.

As part of the settlement, the town also agreed to pay the plaintiffs' legal expenses of about $1.6 million.

Town Supervisor Gil Piaquadio said the town fought the residents in court for so long, even seeking to strike down parts of the Voting Rights Act, to minimize change and preserve most of the town's at-large voting system.

He said November 2025's historic town board election victory by Mary McLymore, who is Black, backs up the town's decision to spend close to $4 million on the years-long fight.

"This is evidence that the Town was correct to defend itself to protect the at-large system," Piaquadio said of McLymore's win in an emailed statement, "and there was no reason to change to a ward system."

The new voting system will first be used in the 2027 elections for two of the town board's four at-large seats.