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TESTIMONY
Testimony by James Inniss, Grassroots Organizer from New York Communities for Change, against jungle primaries
2:43:46
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3 min
James Inniss, a grassroots organizer with New York Communities for Change (an affiliate of the Working Families Party), testifies against jungle primaries.
He argues that jungle primaries, which advance the top two vote-getters regardless of party, undermine grassroots movements and historically excluded communities by favoring candidates with substantial financial backing or name recognition, often silencing smaller parties and independent voices. Inniss contends that this system would make it harder for candidates of color and women from grassroots movements to compete and would undo civic education efforts around the current electoral system, including ranked-choice voting.
- Opposes jungle primaries, believing they favor wealthy candidates and suppress grassroots movements.
- Argues these systems silence smaller parties and independent voices, disadvantaging candidates of color and women from emerging grassroots efforts.
- Believes another radical shift in primary structure could confuse voters and undermine civic engagement efforts.
James Inniss
2:43:46
Hello, everybody.
2:43:47
My name is James Ennis.
2:43:48
Thank you, everybody on the commission, for the opportunity to speak.
2:43:51
I am a grassroots organizer with New York Committees for Change.
2:43:54
Transparently, we are a founding affiliate of the Working Families Party, so I'll just put that out there.
2:43:59
And I am here to say that we are against as well the Jungle Primaries' own system.
2:44:06
Our work as grassroots organizers is fundamentally about building long term relationships and empowering communities historically excluded from decision making processes and power.
2:44:16
Our mission is to increase participation, enhance representation, and foster trust and accountability within the political system.
2:44:25
Unfortunately, we believe jungle primaries undermine these very principles.
2:44:30
A jungle primary system allows all candidates to run-in a single primary election regardless of their party affiliation with only the top two vote getters advancing to the general election.
2:44:40
At first glance, this may seem straightforward, but in practice, it also results in two candidates usually from the same political party moving forward.
2:44:48
Typically, these are the candidates with substantial financial backing or an existing name recognition.
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The consequence is smaller parties, independent voices are all silenced.
2:44:59
This is a huge blow for communities just starting to gain traction and run grassroots candidates.
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Grassroots candidates make trust in communities.
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Grassroots candidates are are members of those communities that community members feel confident and want to vote for.
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Jungle primaries actually suppress voter choice because it suppresses that grassroots movement.
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Moreover, jungle primaries don't level the playing field.
2:45:24
They tilt it even more.
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Candidates of color and women, particularly emerging from grassroots movements, face significant fundraising challenges even with New York City's general matching fund system.
2:45:36
And for an example, you can just look at the mayoral candidates, Adrian Adams and Jessica Ramos, and their fundraising, and you can tell women of color have a harder time fundraising than everybody else.
2:45:47
And you heard my colleague earlier say why the establishment just tends to like white maleness a lot more than they do people from actual communities who who know what's happening in those communities.
2:45:59
As organizers, we've spent months educating voters about the current electoral system and the change to the ranked ranked choice voting.
2:46:06
It was labor intensive, and there was an effort that involved knocking on doors, involving organizing community forums, and walking people how to actually do it.
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And that's something that we are still doing.
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Another radical shift in the primary structure can undo years of this civic education and efforts to make New Yorkers engage in a political process.
2:46:26
We want to make voting more accessible, not more convoluted.
2:46:31
We are the ones excuse me.
2:46:33
We are the ones organizing tenants, fighting for school funding, and getting our neighbors out to vote.
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We do not have super PACs.
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We have people power.
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That's the only thing we have.
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We wanna empower people in communities so that their voices are heard and that they want to run for offices, have their and they can shape their communities.
2:46:53
And that's why we firmly stand against the jungle, primary system.