New Report: Reforming New York City’s Elections

NEW YORK, NY – Next week, voters in New York will select congressional candidates in a handful of districts across the city. Although only primaries, the races will likely determine November’s winners, speaking to a sad reality: in the most important municipality in the world’s most influential democracy, general elections routinely fail to sport meaningful competition. What’s more, they come as the city Board of Elections faces ongoing scrutiny over ineptitude and scandal.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. A new report for the Manhattan Institute from fellow John Ketcham offers a pathway for urgent reform. In the report, Ketcham diagnoses the most significant problems with the city’s electoral system and makes timely recommendations for improvement.

Ketcham’s report describes New York City’s electoral system, including its recent introduction of ranked-choice voting for local primary elections. It then turns to the shortcomings of the city’s system, including chronically declining voter participation in local races, a city Board of Elections rife with inefficiency and inability, and New York State’s fully closed primaries, in which only voters registered in a particular political party may vote in that party’s elections. 

To address these concerns, the report proposes a series of reforms for New York City’s electoral process. Some are long-overdue necessities, and others are long-shot overhauls. These include:

• Reforming the Board of Elections
• Shifting elections on-cycle
• Including endorsements on the ballot
• Abolishing the Offices of Public Advocate and Borough President
• Implementing Final Five Voting (FFV) or reintroducing Proportional Representation (PR)

Underlying Ketcham's report is a vision of reinvigorating local democracy by encouraging broad participation, democratic deliberation, and robust political competition. Such improvements could increase competition in local elections, driving a renaissance of policy innovation and responsiveness among the city’s representatives.

Click here to read the full report.