REMARKS
Council Member Lincoln Restler's opening remarks on 2025 election preparations
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4 min
Council Member Lincoln Restler, chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations, State and Federal Legislation, delivers opening remarks for an oversight hearing on the NYC Board of Elections and Campaign Finance Board's preparations for the June 2025 elections. He emphasizes the importance of ensuring fair and efficient elections, discusses recent voting experiences, and introduces legislation to be discussed.
- Highlights concerns about low voter turnout and the need to increase participation
- Mentions specific issues from recent elections, including early voting successes and scanner problems in Queens
- Introduces several pieces of legislation to be discussed, including prohibitions on AI-generated content in elections and privacy protections for voters who are domestic violence survivors
Lincoln Restler
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Good afternoon.
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My name is Lincoln Ressler, and I am the chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations, State and Federal Legislation.
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I'd like to welcome my colleagues who have joined us today, council member Gail Brewer, council member Julie Menon, and council member Lynn Schulman.
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Thank you for being here.
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Today, we are holding an oversight hearing on the New York City Board of Elections and Campaign Finance Board's preparations for the June 2025 elections.
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2025 is a pivotal election for the future of New York City.
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The nation is swearing in a president who traffics in disinformation about federal election interference.
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And for the first time ever, our city is under the leadership of an indicted mayor, and voters will likely be determining his successor.
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And the members of the city council will indeed be electing a new speaker.
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There is less confidence today in our electoral process and the integrity of our institutions than perhaps ever before.
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It's critical that the Board of Elections and Campaign Finance Board are ready and resourced to safeguard democracy and ensure fair and efficient elections in 2025.
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All eyes are on the campaign finance board's imminent determination of disbursement of public matching funds for 2025 campaigns.
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New York City has been a national leader in campaign finance reform for decades, and the reputation and credibility of our campaign finance board is very much at stake with this decision.
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I hope that today, we will fully unpack the legal authority of the CFB to withhold 1,000,000 of dollars of taxpayer dollars to a came to a campaign that is apparently rife with corruption.
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I am pleased that early voting was a resounding success this past November.
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Early voting turnout was up.
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Over 1,000,000 New Yorkers indeed voted early, more than ever before.
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Energy was high at Burrow Hall where I voted early with my wife.
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During the 9 days of early voting at this location in Brooklyn Heights, there were steady lines out the door.
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There were warm and helpful staff, and everybody in the room cheered when first time voters made it to to a desk to vote.
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While it was a great voting experience for my family, that wasn't true for all.
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There were isolated incidents of long wait times and some scanning issues, particularly in Queens.
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These are issues that can sow confusion and undermine confidence in our voting system.
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We want to make sure that we understand what went wrong and that the BOE has plans in place to prevent future incidents.
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40 years ago, New York City regularly saw 80% turnout for presidential elections and 50 to 60% turnout for mayoral elections.
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Turnout for the November presidential election was 59%.
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Turnout for the last competitive mayoral election in 20 in June of 2021 was 27% for the primary and 23% in November for the general.
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That is abysmal.
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Abysmal.
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While while we are making steady progress in registering new voters, we are failing to get more New Yorkers to the polls.
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I'm keen to hear from the CFP and the BOE on how we can increase voter turnout in New York City this coming June.
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I hope we can use the time today to ensure New York City is preparing to be a model for in election operations for how to do things ethically, efficiently, and effectively.
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We also will be hearing several pieces of legislation, including a prohibition of AI generated content pre, preceding elections sponsored by council member Mennen, increasing voter registration of young adults, sponsored by council member Stevens, privacy protections for voters who are survivors of domestic violence, sponsored by council member Brewer, and more.
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With that, I'd like to thank, the governmental operations staff, our committee counsel, Jay 3 Ganapathy and Erica Cohen for their hard work in preparing for this hearing.
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I'd like to thank my communications director, Niamh Mooney, for doing a stellar job as always.
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And I'd especially like to thank my chief of staff, Molly Haley, who is the brains behind this operation.
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I will now turn it over to my colleagues to give opening remarks on their bills.
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We'll start with council member Brewer, the prime sponsor of intro 565, which would amend the charter to provide survivors of domestic violence with guidance on making their voter registration records confidential.
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Thank you so much.
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And now to Council Member Breuer.
