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Q&A
Greg Dennis on primary system considerations for New York City
0:58:30
·
106 sec
Chair Richard R. Buery Jr. questions Greg Dennis about his perspective on a primary system for New York City, given its electoral history.
Dennis states he doesn't have a strong opinion but notes that in Boston, the pushback against eliminating preliminary elections due to concerns about large candidate fields led to the top-four proposal. For New York City, he suggests that if a preliminary round is desired, a top-five system might be more appropriate than top-two or top-four, given the city already uses ranked-choice voting with up to five rankings, or alternatively, a single-round RCV election in November.
Richard R. Buery Jr.
0:58:30
Hi.
0:58:30
Can you hear me now?
Sharon Greenberger
0:58:31
Yes.
Richard R. Buery Jr.
0:58:33
Thank you.
0:58:34
I have a question for Greg.
0:58:37
I just wanna clarify.
0:58:38
You you said that while your default recommendation in Massachusetts would be, if I understood you, to have a single election, no primary, but the recommendation for Boston would be to have a a top x primary given the number of candidates.
0:58:54
Do you have a similar perspective on New York based on our recent electoral history?
Greg Dennis
0:59:01
I don't have a a strong strong opinion on that.
0:59:06
I think, we went into the Boston conversation saying, let's eliminate your preliminary.
0:59:12
We can save money by not having the preliminary election at all.
0:59:16
And we received some pushback saying, hey.
0:59:18
We we sometimes have these very large fields, and we don't know how voters are gonna deal with 12 candidates on the ballot or what have you.
0:59:27
And they said, okay.
0:59:28
Well, what if we look at top four?
0:59:30
And that's how we arrived at that.
0:59:31
And that decision, I think it's an interesting balance between, do you deny options from the general election ballot by having some primary or preliminary, and that denies some choice?
0:59:44
But that can also simplify the decision voters are making by limiting that choice.
0:59:49
So I think that's an interesting decision.
0:59:52
I mean, for New York City, I would not consider top two.
0:59:56
And in fact, in terms of top you're already ranking five, so I would not really consider top four.
1:00:02
I'd probably make the determination.
1:00:03
Do you wanna do a single round in November or do top five since you're already ranking five?
1:00:08
That's the decision I would I would make.
Sharon Greenberger
1:00:13
Julie, please go ahead.
Richard R. Buery Jr.
1:00:15
Thank you.