Testimony Before the New York City Charter Revision Commission Staten Island Public Input Session on Government Reform
John Ketcham testified in a hearing before the New York City Charter Revision Commission Staten Island Public Input Session on Government Reform.
Chair Buery, Executive Director Schierenbeck, members of the Charter Revision Commission, thank you for the opportunity to testify and for performing this important civic service. I’m John Ketcham, legal policy fellow and director of Cities at the Manhattan Institute. My views today are my own. I also second the recommendations made by my colleague Eric Kober at the February 24 hearing.
Six years after adopting ranked-choice voting for local primary and special elections, the city’s electoral dynamics remain largely unchanged. Only 23 percent of registered voters participated in the 2021 mayoral general election. Closed primaries still bar about a million unaffiliated voters from having a voice in any primary. Manhattan Institute polling conducted this January found that 44% of city voters believe that local elections are effectively decided in the Democratic Party primary, not the general election.
To promote greater political competition and turnout, I respectfully recommend that the Commission consider changes to the city’s electoral structure, the details of which I will include in my extended written testimony. Today, I’d like to focus on a few caveats of nonpartisan primaries and the benefits and tradeoffs of moving the city’s local-elections to even-numbered years.
Click here to read the full testimony.
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John Ketcham is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
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