NO DE ‘VOTE’ TION

Blasio’s ‘democracy’ czar skips primaries

The new “chief democracy officer” whom Mayor de Blasio is paying $165,000 a year to boost voter turnout couldn’t be bothered to vote herself in numerous elections — including the mayor’s own 2017 primary, records show.

Presented with the dubious record Wednesday of Ayirini Fonseca-Sabune, the mayor pointed out that she voted in general elections — which are more important than the primaries she missed.

“Some people don’t choose to vote in primary elections. That’s a very different matter than choosing in the general election,” de Blasio argued.

“I would like to see all people vote in all primaries and general elections, but the one people civically have to focus on the most is of course the general election, and from what I can see she voted very consistently in general elections, so I am very comfortable with the situation.”

In fact, in this liberal city, the winner of the Democratic primary almost always goes on to win the general election.

So the primary is at least as important — if not more so — than the general election in most races.

De Blasio also said he accepted his appointee’s excuse that the reason she couldn’t make it to the polls — which since 2012 have been a block from her Upper West Side home — was because of “some of the things that were going on in her life at various moments.”

The mayor also claimed that Fonseca-Sabune, a Harvard Law School graduate and tenant lawyer, should get a pass on voting because she was working so hard helping the needy.

“She has devoted her life to em- powering people in a whole variety of ways, not just in terms of voting but in a number of other important venues to encourage grassroots involvement and participation,” he said.

But critics said her record of absences at the ballot box should disqualify her from the newly created job.

“The fact that Fonseca-Sibune didn’t even bother to vote in multiple primary elections as recently as last year goes to show that this initiative is a sham and just another patronage job at taxpayer expense,” said Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-SI), who challenged de Blasio in last year’s election.

Fonseca-Sabune, 36, was appointed this week to a gig with a nebulous job description that includes “developing robust voter registration drives” and “expanding civics lesson plans for teachers.”

But a review of the registered Democrat’s Swiss-cheese voting records show she could have used some civic guidance herself.

She missed at least four primaries since 2014 in New York City, including the Sept. 12, 2017 one where de Blasio faced three challengers.

Her record before registering to vote in 2012 from her Upper West Side address raised more questions.

A spokeswoman for the Westchester County Board of Elections said Fonseca-Sabune was registered there from 2000 to 2008 and voted in the general elections of 2000 and 2008 — but missed every election in between.

Mayoral spokesman Raul Contreras said Fonseca-Sabune was in Uganda in 2004 and couldn’t make it to a mailbox to post her absentee ballot.

In defending his pick for city chief democracy officer, Mayor de Blasio made it pretty clear the job is a bad joke. Ayirini Fonseca-Sabune is supposed to lead the effort to register 1.5 million new voters in the next four years . . . as soon as she and City Hall figure out how. But it turns out she herself has a habit of staying home rather than hitting the polls.

The Harvard-educated lawyer, who’s being paid $165,000 a year, didn’t vote in four major primaries since 2014, including de Blasio’s own re-election bid.

This clearly sounds like a classic case of “do as I say, not as I do,” but neither she nor the mayor are embarrassed. She even claims it makes her “the perfect person” for the job because she understands the “challenges” of doing her civic duty.

The mayor doesn’t care either — because Fonseca-Sabune has shown up to vote in ev- ery general election. Is he really unaware that nearly every race in overwhelmingly Democratic New York City is decided in the primary? And not just in the five boroughs: Republicans haven’t won a single statewide New York election since 2002.

The idea that only the general election matters will sure come as a huge surprise to Rep. Joe Crowley and all those ex-Independent Democrats who just got unseated by primary challengers.

Then again, there’s nothing on Chief Democracy Officer Fonseca-Sabune’s official task list — registering voters, improving school civic lessons — that other agencies aren’t already handling.

Which, as City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-SI) suggests, makes the post look like a taxpayer-funded position “designed to drum up Democratic votes.” Maybe it’s the job itself that needs to stay home.