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Q&A
Cathy Stewart questions L. Joy Williams on the implications of delaying open primary reforms for disenfranchised voters
1:37:01
·
3 min
Cathy Stewart from Open Primaries (S:11, though unusual for a panelist to ask another, the transcript indicates this) asks L. Joy Williams about the implications of waiting for further study on open primaries, given the large number of currently disenfranchised voters, particularly young people, who wish to participate.
Williams reiterates her concern that current engagement has been insufficient, emphasizing the need to go to communities rather than expecting them to come to hearings.
She argues against pitting the needs of one group against another and questions whether there has been genuine engagement with young voters of color about their preferences for system reform.
- Williams highlights the importance of people feeling their voice is included in shaping the process, referencing ongoing education about ranked-choice voting as an example of post-implementation challenges.
Cathy Stewart
1:37:01
Thank you for your testimony.
1:37:03
I I have a question about what you are positing in terms of saying that we should wait given the fact that we've heard such an overwhelming amount of testimony from people who are disenfranchised and would like to participate, and what you envision happening in the interim.
1:37:22
And I can't even say when we think the next time that there would be an opportunity for this to happen.
1:37:28
So it's sort of, you know, following up on Sham's question, balancing that sort of fact that there are a lot of people who really can't participate, and a lot of them are young, and we want them in our process against this notion that we need to wait and what you think would happen in that waiting period.
L. Joy Williams
1:37:46
Yeah.
1:37:48
How much time I got?
1:37:49
So one is the the issue of waiting.
1:37:54
And really I'm bringing that up because while I commend the commission for the hearings and crisscrossing the city and having this conversation, quite often our view of engagement is we set a date and set a place and a location and say people come to us.
1:38:12
Rather than from those of us who do this community engagement on a regular basis is going to people and having conversations with them about what they see and how to engage.
1:38:23
So yes, and far be it from me, right?
1:38:26
To say that someone who feels disengaged or feel disempowered that they need to wait.
1:38:32
I mean, that's my whole job, is to focus on those who have that voice.
1:38:36
And particularly, as you mentioned, the young people who feel that disillusionment.
1:38:41
But to put others before others, you sort of competing.
1:38:47
Right?
1:38:47
Where is the conversation with in in senior centers?
1:38:52
Where are the conversations with young people?
1:38:56
Because if you look at how many people have come to test testify and weighing that against the population of the city of New York, has there been actual engagement with young voters of color about how they feel that their system should be set up for their investment?
1:39:13
Investment.
1:39:13
The same thing can be said in terms of housing even as we're talking.
1:39:16
I've served as chair of land use on a community board.
1:39:19
Having a voice and having your power be included in the process and being helped helped to shape what the process should be is something significant.
1:39:30
And, you know, as one of the organizations who are often tasked with that education after the fact, that is what we hear a lot from people.
1:39:39
This was thrust upon us and that there was not time for my voice in the process of how this should be shaped.
1:39:46
Immediately for in in terms of that is ranked choice voting.
1:39:49
Right?
1:39:49
I'm still educating voters about this process, and people are asking, well, where did this come from?
1:39:56
Where you know, why is this?
1:39:57
And so we take for granted how engaged or the information flow that happens between what happens in the rooms that we are in, even that I am in, to how it actually boils out into the community and to potential voters overall.