It seems Top Two, Non Partisan Municipal Elections (NPME) is back on the table!
I was unable to attend but watched the Internet streamed meeting.
This meeting took place in Staten Island. Sarah Lyons, the Chair of the Staten Island County Committee of the Independence Party testified, as did Dick Dadey of Citizens Union.
Dick Dadey, Executive Director of Citizens Union.
Sarah Lyons, Chair of Staten Island Independence Party.
I have submitted my thoughts about how the Top Two process could work using their website. We will know what will get on the November 2010 ballot at their 8/11/2010 meeting in Manhattan. It will be an open meeting but will not have public discussions.
In 1934, the NY state legislature created a NYC Charter Revision Commission who put a new voting system of Proportional Representation on the ballot, that won. Under this system, all candidates would appear together on the ballot and voters would cast ballots for multiple candidates ranked by order or preference. Any candidate getting 75,000 first choice votes would be elected. If no candidate met this threshold, the last candidate was dropped and those voters next candidate was part of a recalculation until the 75,000 was reached. Today this would be called an open election with Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). This concept passed with 60% of the vote in 1936 with Citizens Union leading the campaign.
In the 1937 City Council election: 13 Democrats, 2 independent Democrats, 3 Republicans, 5 American Labor party, 3 independents from the City Fusion party won, the most diverse City Council in decades.
Immediately after this election, Democrats and Republicans began an attempt to repeal this voting method. These efforts failed in 1938 in a state constitutional convention and in 1940 in a citywide referendum. But in 1943, 2 Communists were elected and re-elected in 1945.
This allowed the 2 major parties to attack proportional representation as Un-American and a threat to national security.
In 1947, at the dawn of a new Red scare, voters approved the repeal. In 1949, the Democrats regained control of the city council.
Let your voice be heard, "NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!" and NY needs nonpartisan elections, not party primaries, that is real democracy.
Use the above link to view the entire meeting.
To find out more about NYC politics and reform, read Francis S. Barry's "The Scandal of REFORM".
Michael H. Drucker
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