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TESTIMONY
Testimony by Pamela Stewart-Martinez, Member of the Public, on voter engagement and experiences running for office
3:23:03
·
3 min
Pamela Stewart-Martinez, a Bronx resident with experience running for office, shares her perspective on voter participation and party primaries.
She recounts successfully running against party-backed candidates and winning a district leader position, yet she does not necessarily support open primaries as the solution to low turnout. Based on her door-knocking experience, Stewart-Martinez believes voters' primary concern is feeling their vote doesn't count, rather than party affiliation restrictions. She emphasizes the importance of voter education, especially about party positions like county committee seats, which often go vacant but offer an avenue for community members to engage within parties.
- Believes low voter participation stems more from voters feeling their vote doesn't count, rather than from closed primaries.
- Highlights the importance of ranked-choice voting in making votes count in multiple ways.
- Stresses the need for voter education, particularly about internal party positions like county committee, which provide opportunities for engagement.
Pamela Stewart-Martinez
3:23:03
Thank you for allowing me to speak.
3:23:07
I actually did not plan to speak.
3:23:10
I was just gonna listen and and take in everything, but I felt it was necessary to speak to my experience.
3:23:20
I am I I'm resident of The Bronx.
3:23:26
I have raised my family here in The Bronx, and I'm speaking to the experience of running for office.
3:23:35
It's not the party's choice because I was never I'm part of the Democratic Party.
3:23:40
I was never my party's, initial choice to run for anything.
3:23:47
In fact, some people would say I probably ran against the party.
3:23:50
So I I would assume that most people would think that I'm speaking on behalf of open primaries.
3:23:58
I'm really not.
3:23:59
I'm actually speaking to my experience, which is is that I've always it's very most of the time, I actually made it on the ballot when running against incumbents who were the party's selection.
3:24:16
And when I ran for a party position as district leader, I actually beat the district leader that was supported by my party.
3:24:27
And quite honestly, I feel like it's less about closed primaries as the problem to why people are not participating.
3:24:38
And this is coming from somebody who's a resident of The Bronx who ran for office, who door knocked, who spoke to community members to get them to vote for her.
3:24:49
And most of what I heard from my community members and the community that I walked through, door knocked through, was their concern that, they felt that their vote didn't count.
3:25:02
It was less about not being recognized by a particular party and more about feeling as though their vote didn't count.
3:25:10
Also and which is why I was a huge proponent of ranked choice voting because, you know, your vote counts in many different ways.
3:25:22
So, that was my experience with the folks that I interacted with on a regular basis as a candidate and door knocking and helping other people out on their campaigns and being a campaign consultant for other people who ran for office.
3:25:40
Also, what I will say is education is critical because most people do not understand or know about party positions.
3:25:49
And that's community members' opportunity to get more involved in party politics and and and and have their voices and their concerns heard.
3:25:59
And in so many communities, and I implore you to investigate this, a lot of those, county committee seats go vacant.
Sharon Greenberger
3:26:09
Thank you.
Pamela Stewart-Martinez
3:26:09
And those and those are opportunities for people to actually participate within their party and be heard.