Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
TESTIMONY
Testimony by Julia Richie, Member of the Public, on the frustration and disenfranchisement of young independent voters
1:55:08
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156 sec
Julia Ricci, a young illustrator and teacher who grew up on Staten Island, testifies about her experience as a lifelong independent voter unable to participate in primary elections.
She expresses anger and frustration at being excluded from the decisive primary stage, receiving mailers urging her to register with a party solely to make her vote "count," and feeling her rights are withheld.
Arguing that solutions transcend party lines and that the system should reflect voter diversity, she demands open primaries to grant agency to the growing number of independent voters like herself.
Julia Richie
1:55:08
Hello, commission members.
1:55:10
My name is Julia Ricci.
1:55:13
I am 29 years old.
1:55:15
I'm an illustrator, a teaching artist, and a substitute teacher for the DOE.
1:55:19
I currently live across the bridge in Bay Ridge, but I was born and raised here on Staten Island.
1:55:24
Like 50% of people my age across the country, I am an independent voter and have been independent since I was old enough to register to vote.
1:55:32
That means I have never once been able to vote in a primary election in this city.
1:55:38
I am an independent voter because I don't believe that solutions exist exclusively behind party lines.
1:55:43
I believe that in order for our democracy to be strong and self sufficient, it needs to reflect the diversity and nuance of its citizens.
1:55:51
For years, I've been protesting the closed party, the closed primary system in this city by refusing to join a party to be able to vote, frustratingly but emphatically casting my only permitted vote in the general election.
1:56:04
This year, I received a letter from an organization called Be Counted NYC that pleaded with me to reregister into the Democratic party stating, many New Yorkers do not realize that the election that is almost certain to choose the next mayor is not the November general election, but the Democratic primary on June 24.
1:56:22
This manipulative line is the reason I'm here to fight for open primary elections in New York City today.
1:56:29
Independents are the second largest coalition of voters in every borough except for here on Staten Island, where they only trail behind Republicans slightly with independence at roughly 83,000 voters and Republicans at roughly a 7,000 voters.
1:56:41
We are 1,100,000 individuals and counting that deserve to be represented fairly in a system that uses our taxpayer money to function.
1:56:49
We are not just a nebulous resource that parties can dip into when they need to boost their numbers.
1:56:55
I am not a democrat, and I am not a republican.
1:56:57
I will not lie on a voter registration form to participate in a bad faith primary.
1:57:02
I am an independent and a citizen of New York City, and I am doing what I can to be a positive part of this community even when my rights are being held just out of reach like a carrot on a stick.
1:57:12
I would be doing a disservice by not being honest in this moment.
1:57:16
I am angry and desperate for some kind of change that would give myself and my fellow New Yorkers the agency that we deserve, especially at a time when our democracy is at risk of being worn down by outside interests.
1:57:28
The commission needs to know that this isn't just a talking point to rally around.
1:57:31
This is affecting our ability to live our lives.
1:57:34
It is absurd that I have to come here and ask to be granted my own right to vote.
1:57:38
Please open the primaries and let all voters have a hand in every step of the election process.
1:57:43
Thank you.