Q&A
Concerns about voter education for long ballots in aligned elections
1:56:17
ยท
175 sec
Council Member Lincoln Restler expresses concerns about voter education for potentially long ballots if city elections are aligned with federal elections. Paul Seamus Ryan responds, addressing the feasibility of such alignments based on experiences in other jurisdictions.
- Restler highlights the complexity of ballots with multiple races at different levels of government
- He questions how voters would manage information for 10-12 different election races in a single voting experience
- Paul Seamus Ryan asserts that aligned elections with long ballots have been successful in other jurisdictions
- The discussion touches on the need for further research and analysis of other cities' experiences with aligned elections
Lincoln Restler
1:56:17
I do have anxiety about voter education for a ballot that could be so long.
1:56:23
In 2021, in my community, there was an open council seat, an open borough president seat, an open controller seat, an open mayor election.
1:56:30
In 2022, there was an open congressional seat, competitive senate election.
1:56:37
Add in a presidential year, you know, we're talking it's really stated we had a comp an old a new state senator redistricted in our community.
1:56:45
That is a lot of information for somebody to process for in a given election cycle.
1:56:52
And I just wonder how this you know, you think this would work for a voter to have to, track 10, 12 different election races and candidates in a single voting experience.
Paul Seamus Ryan
1:57:09
We know that it's working in jurisdictions that do it, that have municipal, county, state, federal elections aligned on a single ballot.
1:57:17
I haven't done the research.
1:57:18
I'm confident that my team and folks at Citizen Union who produced a report a few years ago that I referenced in my opening remarks and my testimony, I think they have done that research.
1:57:28
They continue to do the research, but there are other jurisdictions that have had dramatic improvements in voter engagement, voter participation with aligned elections, with long ballots, and I'm not sure New York City is unique that would make it, not follow the same trajectory if we were, in fact, to align our elections with the
Lincoln Restler
1:57:49
I I think it I'd be interested in your team's analysis and what we'll ask Citizens Union as well.
1:57:54
Do we have more positions that we vote for here in New York City than in other places?
1:58:00
I don't know the answer to that.
1:58:01
I it's just, I think, an unusual thing in local government to have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 different elected officials that represent or 5 different elected officials that represent every New Yorker at the local level, you know, in addition to the state and federal representation.
1:58:19
Okay.
1:58:20
I think we've covered my questions on the Queen's scanners, from council member Shulman.
1:58:25
I wanna ask, I I thought the innovation of the website that tells people how long the wait time is was really helpful and a great job.
1:58:33
I am I you know, a couple blocks outside of my district over at Atlantic Terminal, NYCHA Development in Fort Greene, People were saying they waited 4 hours to vote.
1:58:42
I think there were particular instances there.
1:58:44
When you have 1200 poll sites around the city, I get you're gonna have issues in some places.
1:58:48
But could you share with us how many poll sites did the BOE identify had longer wait times than you think appropriate?
1:58:59
And what does the BOE do after an election cycle to revisit which poll sites had issues and what changes, if any, need to be made need to be made to shift election districts around, improve operations, change staff, etcetera?