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TESTIMONY
Testimony by Diane Buscemi, Teacher at a community college in CUNY system, on the need for open primaries
2:16:40
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132 sec
Diane Buscemi, a lifelong New Yorker, independent voter since the 1980s, and CUNY teacher, testifies in favor of open primaries.
She highlights being unable to vote in taxpayer-funded primary elections for over four decades due to her independent status, a situation affecting over a million New Yorkers. Buscemi points out that many other cities use forms of open primaries and argues that New York City should adopt this
Diane Buscemi
2:16:40
Good evening, everyone, commissioners, and thanks for the opportunity to testify today.
2:16:46
My name is Diane Buscemi, and I'm a lifelong New Yorker.
2:16:52
I've been an independent since the 1980s and was a field organizer with Doctor.
2:16:58
Lenora Fulani's independent presidential campaigns and worked with her on political reform issues over the years.
2:17:06
I've been a reading and ESL teacher for over fifty years right now teaching at a community college in the CUNY system.
2:17:16
It's been over four decades since I've been able to vote in a primary election that my cast my tax dollars pay for it.
2:17:24
That's a long time.
2:17:25
There are over 1,000,000 New Yorkers like me who find themselves locked out of crucial elections because we do not wish to join a political party.
2:17:34
We're not allowed to vote in primaries, which all too often are definitive.
2:17:39
I'm sorry.
2:17:41
I keep losing it.
2:17:42
I'm so glad that this commission is looking at the undemocratic way our primaries are structured.
2:17:49
I have colleagues and friends across the country in San Francisco, Oakland, Boston, and others who are shocked when they hear that I can't vote in the primaries because they can.
2:18:01
In fact, most cities use an open form, a form of open primary.
2:18:06
So I really don't get what's hard about this, that it's hardly a radical reform.
2:18:12
Seems simple to me.
2:18:14
Independent voters are the fastest growing group of voters in our city.
2:18:19
We want our choice to be independent, to be respected, and we want to vote in primaries that our tax dollars paid for.
2:18:28
By opening the primaries, over a million New Yorkers will be newly enfranchised, given the right to vote as who they are, independents.
2:18:37
Opening the primaries is the right thing to do, the democratic thing to do.
2:18:42
It's my hope that the commission will not miss the this opportunity.
2:18:47
No American should be forced to join a political party in order to vote.
2:18:52
Thank you.