Expand democracy in New York City
Like the sequel to a bad movie that no one wants to see, Americans are bracing themselves for a re-run of the 2020 presidential election. According to polls, 59% of registered voters are not enthusiastic about a rematch and 66% believe a president should not be more than 80 years old, a threshold both presumptive candidates would meet in their second terms.
A robust primary selection process should preclude general election candidates that the vast majority of voters don’t want, but inconsistencies in how state primary elections are conducted and arcane party rules will make this an impossibility.
New York State is one of only 10 that continues to conduct fully closed primaries, where a voter must be registered with a particular political party before the date of the primary election if they wish to vote. Contrast this with the 15 states that have fully “open primaries,” where voters pick the party ballot they will vote on the day of the primary.
Three states have primary elections that are open and nonpartisan, where primary election ballots include all candidates, regardless of party affiliation and are open to all voters. The candidates with the most votes (two in the case of California and Washington, and four in Alaska) proceed to the general election. These candidates might belong to the same party, different parties or no party at all.
Some argue in support of closed primaries, that voters can freely choose and later change their party affiliation. This is easier said than done. A new voter in New York can register as late as March 23 for the April 2 presidential primary, but if an existing voter wants to change their party affiliation, the deadline was inexplicably different, Feb. 14. Once you’ve selected a party affiliation, you are bound by law to only vote in that party’s primaries for the remainder of the calendar year.
And you’re completely out of luck if you are registered as an unaffiliated voter, in which case you are legally barred from participating in any primary election even though your tax dollars paid for them, arguably a form of taxation without representation.
Moving to an open and nonpartisan primary system like the ones in California, Washington, or Alaska, won’t be easy. It requires an amendment to the state Constitution and a ballot initiative subject to approval by the state Legislature. Fortunately, this is easier in New York City, where an amendment to the City Charter can be accomplished through collecting enough signatures to override any potential resistance from the mayor or City Council.
Our organization, Final Five Voting, is proposing a new primary election system for local offices in New York City that will consist of a single nonpartisan primary in which candidates for a local office (Council, borough president, comptroller, public advocate and mayor) can run regardless of party membership. Voters of all party affiliations will be able to vote. The five candidates with the most votes will advance to the general election. We are calling this proposal Final Five. An almost identical ballot initiative is underway in Nevada, another state stuck with a closed primary.
Most general elections for local offices in New York are not competitive. In the 2021 City Council elections, primary elections were won with an average of 45% of the turnout vote (first round in ranked choice), while general elections were won with an average of 81% of the vote (first round in ranked choice). To illustrate the dysfunctionality of our system, consider that Vladimir Putin received only 77% of the vote in 2018.
We expect the immediate impact of Final Five will be fairer and more competitive elections. Because of New York’s overwhelmingly Democratic skew, in 2021, the vast majority of winners of the Democratic primaries for City Council went on to win the general election. In nine of the 46 Democratic primaries, the winner of a competitive primary election ran unopposed in the general election. The voice of the almost one million unaffiliated registered voters in New York City was silent in all of the primaries that de facto selected their municipal representatives.
Long term we expect Final Five to increase voter engagement. Voters of all stripes often skip general elections because they feel that the primary has already predetermined the winner. Independent voters and voters who do no not belong to the dominant party in their district feel alienated from the political process. By making NYC primaries open and nonpartisan, all voters will feel that they can make a difference.