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Q&A
Commissioners and Professor Jen Gaboury debate the implications of open primaries for voter enfranchisement and party politics
0:32:13
·
3 min
Commissioner Diane Savino challenges Professor Jen Gaboury's opposition to open primaries, questioning the rationale for disenfranchising over a million New York City voters who are not registered with a party.
Professor Gaboury reiterates that people can choose to join parties and that there's no limit to the number of parties, citing Working Families Party members who canvas but don't vote in Democratic primaries.
Commissioner Savino argues that many non-enrolled voters don't want to join a party and that the current partisan primary system is producing poor outcomes with declining turnout despite reforms.
- Professor Gaboury contends that the issue is "poor parties" and that fixing parties is the solution, not opening primaries, which she believes would lead to less contestation of ideas in certain districts.
- She believes disaffection could lead to a party of independents.
Diane Savino
0:32:13
So thank you, professor.
0:32:15
So just wanna get this straight in my head.
0:32:19
So your concern is that if we open up the primary process to nondemocrats by the way, I'm a disaffected I'm an angry democrat myself
Richard R. Buery Jr.
0:32:27
Yes.
Diane Savino
0:32:27
Join the club.
0:32:29
But what's the argument for disenfranchising just in New York City alone?
0:32:33
1,100,000 voters like like the woman sitting next let me finish.
0:32:37
Sitting next to you, who if what you're saying is that political parties are important because they're like a club that we join, and we participate in that club, But it's a club that then makes decisions that affect all the voters of the City Of New York independent of their ability to participate in that club.
0:32:52
Do you not see that as a problem?
Jen Gaboury
0:32:54
No.
0:32:55
People can choose to join the club or not join the club, and there's no limit on the number of clubs that can be created.
0:33:00
So for example, I, yesterday, was canvassing with people who are Working Families Party members as registered voters.
0:33:06
They are not participating in the Democratic primary because they are WFP voters.
Diane Savino
0:33:10
I know.
Jen Gaboury
0:33:11
And they are door knocking.
0:33:12
Right?
0:33:12
And they are doing that precisely to pull, right, in precisely because they are participating, right, in that way.
0:33:20
That and then if they get enough people, then they will have their own primary.
Diane Savino
0:33:24
They I I was at the founding convention of the Working Families Party.
0:33:28
They have no intention of running their own candidates.
0:33:31
That's just it's never been their intention.
0:33:33
It's always been to pull the Democratic Party to
Jen Gaboury
0:33:34
Here in New York.
0:33:35
That was the
Diane Savino
0:33:36
whole goal behind it.
0:33:37
That being said, there's I still have not heard a rationale as to why we should disenfranchise millions and I think Susan Lerner is here from Common Cause.
0:33:45
She will tell you if as far as extensive study on this, it has been done year over year.
0:33:51
This is the single biggest issue we've heard at the Charter Commission this year is on open primaries or nonpartisan elections or expanding the franchise, which is our responsibility to try and figure out how to do that.
0:34:02
What we haven't heard, though, is that that it reduces turnout.
0:34:06
In fact, it increases turnout.
0:34:08
But more importantly, the one thing that that Susan will talk about, I'm sure, when she gets up here is people who don't enroll in a party do it because they don't wanna belong to a party.
0:34:16
It would be very easy right now for a person to enroll in a party early enough so that they could participate in that primary and then disenroll.
0:34:23
They don't wanna do that.
0:34:24
They don't wanna feel forced that they have to engage in partisan politics.
0:34:28
And I'll find at the at the the last thing I'll say, because I it's hot and we all wanna go home early, is the partisan pry primary process is producing a really bad product.
0:34:39
In the past fifty years, turnout in New York City has plummeted in spite of campaign finance reform, one to one, two to one, four to one, eight to one match, term limits.
0:34:49
Not it's gotten worse and worse and worse, and we're down to now 20% of voters are making a decision about who should run this city, and we're leaving behind millions of people.
0:34:59
There's something wrong with that process.
Jen Gaboury
0:35:02
I would I would say, in fact, that is because of poor parties, and I would say that about the Brooklyn County party.
0:35:08
But that then is about fixing parties.
0:35:11
That is not it is going the wrong direction rather than to say we should have no parties.
Richard R. Buery Jr.
0:35:17
Neither
Jen Gaboury
0:35:18
No.
0:35:19
But but opening up okay.
0:35:20
So I live in Southern Brooklyn.
0:35:21
Right?
0:35:22
And so the city council race the city council race in my district, we we won like, the last two city council cycles, we won by 1,300 votes.
0:35:31
Right?
0:35:31
Open that up.
0:35:32
There's no Democrat who wins.
0:35:35
Right?
0:35:35
I mean but that is that then is part of, like, the fact that there is no contest, no exchange of ideas, no there's not the it reduces the upper it reduces that opportunity.
0:35:47
If if if in fact, disaffection should, in fact could, in fact, lead to a party of independence.
Richard R. Buery Jr.
0:35:54
Thank thank you.
0:35:55
So any other questions for the panel?