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Q&A
Discussion on the merits of nonpartisan versus open primaries for inclusivity
1:48:42
·
165 sec
Commissioner Diane Savino highlights Danny Batista's point that campaigns often target only frequent primary voters, further narrowing participation even within parties, and asks both Batista and Jeremy Gruber which electoral model they prefer—open primaries or nonpartisan elections.
Gruber advocates for the nonpartisan model as the standard for cities, emphasizing it treats all voters equally and allows maximal choice.
Batista concurs, stating his preference for a completely nonpartisan system where all voters consider all candidates.
Diane Savino
1:48:42
Thank you, Cliff.
1:48:43
I think that you bring a unique perspective as you point to Staten Island is unlike the rest of the city for many reasons, and perhaps there's a different approach that we might have here.
1:48:53
But I wanted to talk to the two gentlemen about the open primary issue.
1:48:58
Particularly, you, Den, you you you made a point in your testimony that really made me think about one of the biggest problems, I think, with the closed primary process is when you build a campaign, you buy a voter list.
1:49:11
You know, if you're a Democrat, you get the van.
1:49:12
If you're a Republican, you get I forgot what they call it.
1:49:14
I three sixty or something like that.
1:49:16
But you build a campaign where you only talk to people who you know are going to vote.
1:49:21
You you you build the entire outreach to triple prime Democrats and a Democratic primary, triple prime Republicans.
1:49:28
So you're narrowing down the group of people who are eligible to vote in that primary exponentially to those you know based on past experience are absolutely gonna vote, which means you're shutting out people who are even registered in that party.
1:49:41
We the camp you don't talk to those people because you don't think they're gonna turn out, so you only talk to triple prime voters in a primary.
1:49:48
So not only are we eliminating talking to people like you, but we're not even talking to everyone who's eligible to vote in that primary.
1:49:55
So, again, I'll ask the two of you the same question I asked the other gentleman.
1:50:00
Which of the model do you think makes the most sense for New York City?
1:50:03
Is it the straight open primary where you get to pick whichever primary you wanna vote in, or should we go to nonpartisan primaries?
1:50:10
Like, what do you think makes the most sense for for someone like you?
Jeremy Gruber
1:50:16
Well, there's a lot of different forms of open primaries.
1:50:18
I would say, as you as you come to a a debate about this, that you stay focused on the fact that independents can't vote right now.
1:50:26
So whatever model you choose, I hope that you don't get mired in in models.
1:50:31
But I would say that, that all things considered, that a nonpartisan model is the standard model cities use.
1:50:38
The top two system, is a is a standard model.
1:50:42
And the reason why is because it keeps all voters, at equal at equal states.
1:50:48
No one voter has any advantage over another voter, and every voter has the ability to vote for every candidate.
1:50:54
You are no longer siloed into camps, democrat or republican.
1:50:58
You get the full, panoply of candidates in front of you as a voter, and you get to choose the for the best candidate regardless of party.
1:51:06
And I think that's in in all what democracy should be.
Danny Batista
1:51:12
Thanks.
1:51:12
I am I am also just personally for completely nonpartisan elections.
1:51:16
I think all voters should get to see and consider all candidates, and I think all candidates should have to face all voters, and everyone should show up and get to vote.