Citizens Union's Voter Turnout Analysis

This report was produced by Citizen Union on August 2, 2010 and submitted to the New York City Charter Revision Commission.

"Under a Top-Two election system, the primary election would be open to all eligible voters, regardless of party affiliation, so that every registered voter could participate in the first consequential election that most often decides who is elected to office. The candidates who finished in the top two spots would then move onto the general election in which all eligible voters would again vote."

From their analysis of nonpartisan special elections in New York City, they found median nonpartisan special election turnout was 10.60 percent, 116 percent higher than the median partisan special election turnout of 4.91 percent.

Use the above link to read the entire report.

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

NYC Charter Revision Commission 7/28/2010

Thanks to The Hankster for these videos.

I attended this meeting in Queens. The decision on what will be on the ballot in November's General Election will be made at a 8/11/2010 meeting in Manhattan. We know Term Limits will be on but not in what form.

Use the above link to view the meeting.

Attorney Harry Kresky speaks before the NYC Charter Revision Commission at the Queens Borough Hall, regarding nonpartisan elections for city offices.




Anthony Crowell, a member of the commission, likes nonpartisan elections.

NYC Charter Revision issue forum at Lehman College in the Bronx June 2, 2010, featured an expert panel on the topic of voter participation, including NYC Independence Party attorney Harry Kresky. He spoke about the American tradition of expanding democracy as a civil rights issue. Independents are disenfranchised in the crucial first round of voting in New York City. The only other major city to hold partisan municipal elections is Philadelphia.



During the meeting each commission member expressed their thoughts on this issue. I think they lean to do this but not this year. They have hired an outside consultant, I think it is Dr. Lisa Handley, President of an International Election Consulting firm, to report to them with current stats: how it affects minority voters and turnout since 2003 from cities who use non partisan elections, before the 8/11/2010 meeting.

It is up to the 1.4 million NYC voters who are unable to vote in the most important primary in the country to let the commission know "NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote".

Important to this issue is how will it work. Here are some process issues:

1. Ballot - Optionally put your party logo, but you should also be allowed to show the logos of all party endorsements.

2. Signatures - State law states: 7,500 for Mayor, Comptroller, Public Advocate, and Borough Presidents, 2,700 for City Council. These should be for all candidates. I do not know how this will change Write-Ins.

3. Primary - If one or two candidates no need for primary as they would go to the General Election. Three or more candidates go to primary. To really make this the voters choice, make this an Instant Runoff Vote (IRV) system to get the truly Top Two that will go to the General Election.

4. Public Financing - There is the possibility to reduce the cost of elections by removing run-off elections and public funding in the General Election would only be available for the Top Two candidates.

Another issue is the Voting Rights Act. Since three of the five NYC boroughs fall under the act, the change would need their approval. During the 2003 commission J. Gerald Hebert, former chief of the Department of Justice's Voting Rights Division testified that there have been at least 150 instances in which the Department of Justice has reviewed a change from partisan to nonpartisan election system over the past decades and all had been approved.

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

Independence Party Founder Invited to Advise NYC Charter Commission on Nonpartisan Elections‏

Independence Party founder Harry Kresky, who is the nations leading legal advocate for independent voters, has been invited to join a panel of experts advising the NYC Charter Revision Commission on the subject of nonpartisan elections at a public forum. He will be appearing at the NYC Charter Revision Commissions forum on Wednesday, June 2nd at Lehman College in the Bronx.

The June 2nd forum is a critical moment in the process of determining whether an initiative for nonpartisan elections will go on the ballot, either 2010 or 2011, for voter approval. Your presence at the forum is urgently needed!

If you think we need to open the primaries in NYC, then we need your help this Wednesday at Lehman College. The Independence Party is mobilizing members to attend in order to make plain that nonpartisan elections -- which would allow NYC's nearly 1 million independents to be part of the primary process -- is a popular issue with broad public support and should go on the ballot for voter approval.

HISTORY

By the 1950s, more than 60 percent of municipalities nationwide had adopted nonpartisan elections. Today, 41 of the 50 largest cities in the U.S. with an elected mayor use nonpartisan elections including Los Angles, Houston, San Diego, Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Francisco, Boston and Seattle.

• Voting in local elections is declining. The number of non-enrolled voters is growing rapidly, particularly among youth and recent immigrants.
• The ballot petition procedures candidates must follow are famously burdensome and knocking opponents off the ballot absurdly common.
• Party bosses still seek to stifle competition and exact patronage.
• Perhaps most significantly, many candidates win their party primary with less than a third of the votes, with general elections serving as confirmations rather than contests.

It is not surprising, given the sum of these variables, that incumbent re-election rates approach 100 percent, as party bosses continue to wield power. The system is indeed broken. The city’s independent voters, ever-growing in number, are effectively disenfranchised, since the party primary decides all but a few elections.

How would nonpartisan elections work?

Since the Charter revision of 1989, Special elections to fill a vacancy in the term of a City Council member have been conducted on a nonpartisan basis. The current state rules for petitions are:
• For any office to be filled by all voters of the City of NY, 7,500 signatures are needed.
• For any office to be filled in the City of NY by all the voters of any City Council District, 2,700 signatures are needed.

Speaker Gifford Miller, Majority Leader Joel Rivera, and Minority Leader James Oddo were first elected to the City Council in nonpartisan elections. And earlier, there was a spirited nonpartisan election for a vacant City Council seat in Bay Ridge.

As the commission explores the design of nonpartisan elections, a number of variables will be considered. These include:
• Which municipal offices should be covered?
• When should the elections be held, when should the new arrangements go into effect.
• How would candidates get on the ballot?
• How would the nonpartisan format affect the city’s campaign finance program and vice versa.
• How would votes be counted, I support Top Two go to the General Election in November.
• What would be the role of political parties?

As we examine the experience of other cities and consider the lessons they hold for New York, it is important to note several features unique to New York that can serve to enhance the effects of nonpartisan elections. New York has a generous campaign finance program, and a widely distributed Voter Guide. Contributing to civic debate and voter information in New York are the number of competing daily newspapers, weekly papers, cable news stations, ethnic and general radio stations, and powerful unions and other organized groups.

Voter turnout: Some have asserted that nonpartisan elections lead to reduced voter turnout. The research here is scanty, and often fails to compare turnouts in large cities. A further contradiction in opponents’ arguments concerns the assertion that in the absence of party labels voters will not have a cue as to a candidate’s views. Yet in the Democratic primary, where most elections are decided, voters differentiate among candidates without any party label to assist them. They do this by using information gleaned from the Voter Guide, the community newspapers, and the abundance of campaign literature that the campaign finance program funds. In New York City, at least, this argument lacks salience and is demeaning to voters.

Minority participation: In a city with a majority “minority” population, this is an important issue. Nonpartisan elections are held in forty-one of the nation’s fifty largest cities. Compared to partisan election cities in recent elections, nonpartisan election cities have elected a higher percentage of black and Latino mayors – 34 percent vs. 22 percent. At the least, this suggests than minorities are likely to do at least as well in nonpartisan cities as in partisan ones.

At bottom, the issue is whether we continue to allow a small group of party officials to determine both who gets on the ballot and who can vote in the elections that matter or do we expand opportunity and access. This is not a matter of abstract “good government” principle, but rather a response to the increasing numbers of voters who feel left out of the process as it operates today.

I will attend the forum and will be part of the independents making our case to the Charter Revision Commission on Wednesday, June 2nd. We need 125 independents in the room holding up our beautiful new poster (pictured below) to show that nonpartisan elections is a popular issue with broad public support.



Use the above link for more information about the forum and the Charter Revision Commission.

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Again, thanks to the great work by The Hankster for this post.

I attended this event last night.


Jackie Salit, President of IndependentVoting.org and NYC Independence Party campaign strategist talks about the latest dysfunction in Albany at the May 25 NYC Independence Party Spring Chair Reception hosted by Cathy Stewart.


NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg speaks in support of nonpartisan elections to NYC Independence Party Spring Chair Reception hosted by chief organizer Cathy Stewart, Manhattan Chair of the New York City Organizations of the Independence Party, May 25, 2010, Wolfgang's Steakhouse, in Tribeca. NYC IP campaign for nonpartisan elections is being headed up by young independents under the banner "NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote". 1 million independent voters are left out of the decisive round of voting in NYC, and 25% of them are under of the age of 30, 25% are people of color.




The New York City Charter Revision Commission will hold a series of public issue forums across the five boroughs throughout May and June 2010. Topics for each forum, which were selected by the Commission at its May 10th public meeting, include: Term Limits, Voter Participation, Government Structure, Public Integrity, and Land Use. At each forum, the Commission will hear expert testimony and will invite public input. Each issue forum is open to the public and will be streamed live via webcast through their website, Wednesday, June 2 – VOTER PARTICIPATION (Nonpartisan Municipal Elections) will take place at Lehman College, 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Music Building, Faculty Dining Room, Bronx at 6 p.m.

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

2010 NYC Charter Revision Meeting

Thanks to Nancy Hanks from The Hankster Blog for this post.

NYC Charter Revision Commission held it's first meeting March 18 in Brooklyn at the New York City College of Technology. Chairman Dr. Matthew Goldstein, Chair, is Chancellor of the City University of New York, who set an aggressive timetable to consider changes to the city's charter. Chairman Goldstein suggested making "our civic life more participatory and representative" one of the core values of the commission in considering any changes. NYC Independence Party Organizations spokesperson Cathy Stewart applauded the commission for its rigorous timetable and said the NYCIP will push aggressively for consideration of putting a referendum on nonpartisan elections on the ballot. A number of youth from across the city, organized by All Stars Project Director of Youth Programs Pam Lewis, distributed flyers to attendees asking the commission to hold its first public hearing at Thomas Jefferson High School to demonstrate a commitment to involving young people, 25% of whom are independent and are excluded from voting in primaries in NYC.

NY is a closed state. So the three million independent voters can not vote in the pimaries. In NYC we are trying for the second time getting Non Partisan Municipal Elections on the next ballot as part of the Charter Commision changes. We also will try to make sure Term Limits also makes it on the ballot. Last year the NYC Council extended term limits from two term to three. We think the voters should decide.

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

Why We Need Non-Partisan Elections

From an Op-Ed:

There are many things that need to be done to improve our democratic system, from reforming archaic voting systems to a comprehensive and equitable campaign finance system. This year, the mayor will convene a charter reform commission to address the live wire topic of term limits, but we want to encourage the mayor to take one more pass at non-partisan elections, a referendum that lost in the polls in 2003, but today is needed more than ever.

Use the above link to read the entire article.

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

Gale Brewer Takes Over Govt. Ops. in NYC

I worked on Mayor Bloomberg's three campaigns for mayor. As part of the last campaign was a commitment to start the process to create a new charter commission to address the term limit issue, put it back to the voters on a future ballot and also put on a future ballot the question of non-partisan municipal elections. I also took part in the discussions of new voting machines for NYC as an Executive member of the Independence Party. So the following peeked my interest:


NYC Council Member Gale A. Brewer has been representing the Upper West Side and Upper Clinton in the New York City Council since 2002. She was re-elected in the November 2009 general election with over 80 percent of the vote. Her service in the Council is a continuation of nearly 30 years of public service.

The Council’s Government Operations Committee officially has jurisdiction over obscure-sounding agencies. But new chair Gale Brewer could have a tangible role in how New Yorker’s vote and perhaps in reshaping municipal government, advocates say.

Brewer will in be charge of monitoring the new optical scan voting machines and a possible charter review commission.

“It’s going to fall in her lap in terms of Council oversight,” said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the New York Public Interest Group. “She’ll be the Council’s eyes and ears.”

The State Legislature has ultimate authority over election matters, so in ensuring that the 2010 elections run smoothly, Brewer’s only weapon will be committee hearings.

Good government groups that have been awaiting the details of the charter review commission are worried that it will be packed with supporters of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Brewer, too, is concerned that the commission will not have the legitimacy of the one in 1989 that dramatically restructured city government.

“The ones that have existed since then have not had the same caliber,” Brewer said. “I don’t know how the City Council could play a role, but it’s something we should be invested in.”

Good government groups that have been pushing for additional Council reforms see an ally in Brewer, who supported campaign finance laws and voted against the term limit extension—two major issues the committee handled.

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

NYS Needs Nonpartisan Municipal Elections

Francis S. Barry, a speechwriter for Mayor Bloomberg and author of a controversial analysis of reform movements in New York, explains why NYS should adopt non-partisan municipal elections in an exclusive interview published by the Empire Page.

Non-partisan elections would solve the problem that exists in New York City and elsewhere around the state where "nearly all elections for nearly all offices are decided in the Democratic primary, when turnout is very low."

I was part of the effort to bring Nonpartisan Municipal Elections to NYC in 2003, NYC Ballot proposals: Question 3. We lost that effort with only 30% of the vote. We hope to try again with Mayor Bloomberg's help in his third term.

Use the above link to read the entire article.

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

The Case for Nonpartisan Elections

Francis S. Barry, has worked as a policy advisor and director of speech writing for New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg since 2002, makes the case in his book "The Scandal of the Reform" that nonpartisan elections can bring back voters who are not registered as Democrats or Republicans. "Why," he asks, "exclude independent voters from the first round of voting [the closed primary] if that is the decisive election?" Messy empirical and practical arguments aside, this is a compelling argument on its face. As new generations of voters entering the polity valuing their independence and refusing to commit to one political party or the other, the numbers of the effectively disenfranchised will only climb.

Mayor Bloomberg likes nonpartisan elections too, but he focuses more on the managerial quality of local government, along the lines of Fiorello LaGuardia's old chestnut that there is no partisan way to pick up the garbage. In 2003, Bloomberg established a charter commission under the chairmanship of Frank Macchiarola, the president of St. Francis College, to investigate and make recommendations for a nonpartisan election plan for the city. The commissioners worked hard, but faced overwhelming opposition from "reform" groups in New York.

Bloomberg's charter commission recommended giving candidates the option of identifying their party affiliation if they chose, but opening the election to all registered voters, thus eliminating the closed party primary. If you are concerned about a crowded election contest that will produce a winner with 10 percent to 15 percent of the vote, no worries -- we can employ instant runoff techniques where voters can select their second and third choices. The top finishers can be paired off with the additional preferences supplied by voters and a winner with a legitimate majority can be crowned.

Voters overwhelmingly rejected Macchiarola's plan for nonpartisan elections, 70 percent to 30 percent. But only 13 percent of registered voters bothered to show up for the off-year election of 2003, and many had ties to the unions, interest groups and political clubs that benefit from the status quo and know how to pull the levers of the current system to their advantage. They were loathe to expand the electorate and risk the surrender of power.

Barry says that nonpartisan elections very well might create a more cooperative spirit in City Hall, and embolden rank and file legislators to break with orthodoxy. I am not so sure -- many cities, after all, have nonpartisan municipal elections and are just slogging it out like we do in the Big Apple. The best case for the adoption of nonpartisan elections is the principled one, removed from any impact it may have: Nonpartisan elections give more people the opportunity to exercise, in a meaningful way, the most fundamental right and obligation in a democracy, the vote.

While taking part in the Independence Party selection of Bloomberg on Column "C" as a member of the Manhattan Executive Committee, the mayor said "show him the way to nonpartisan municipal elections, and I am in."

With 945,931 New York City registered voters who can not vote in the primaries, it just might be the time in 2010.

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us