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Q&A
Commissioner Savino questions Comptroller Lander on the impact of open primaries on voter participation
0:09:21
·
5 min
Commissioner Diane Savino and Comptroller Brad Lander debate the merits of open primaries.
Savino questions whether including New York's 1.1 million unaffiliated voters could lead to better representation, while Lander defends the current system of party primaries as a cornerstone of American politics.
Lander suggests alternative reforms like same-day registration rather than eliminating party primaries entirely.
- Savino asks if an open primary with higher turnout could have changed the outcome of the recent mayoral race.
- Lander argues that eliminating party primaries would diminish outreach and is contrary to how politics is traditionally practiced.
- Savino highlights the growing number of unaffiliated voters who are excluded from the current primary system.
- Lander proposes reforms like changing party registration deadlines but reiterates his opposition to non-partisan primaries, attributing the push to "sour losers."
Diane Savino
0:09:21
Thank you.
0:09:24
Good to see you, mister controller.
Gale Brewer
0:09:25
You as well.
Diane Savino
0:09:26
And I'm happy that you're in support of a lot of the proposals that the Charter Revision Commission
Carl Weisbrod
0:09:31
Five out of six.
Diane Savino
0:09:32
Put forward.
0:09:33
I like that.
0:09:34
On the sixth question, I just have a couple of questions.
0:09:37
So you and I have been we're probably the only two people in this conversation right now that have actually had to run competitive primaries.
0:09:44
And what's happened in a city with five and a half million registered voters, of which three and a half million are Democrats, yet only a million turned out to vote, you find yourself campaigning to a smaller and smaller group of people.
0:09:59
So is it not entirely possible that had the more voters been in this discussion, which wouldn't could potentially include all voters, all the registered voters, you might have had a better shot in the primary.
0:10:11
Do you think that's possible?
Brad Lander
0:10:13
We don't know what would have happened if we didn't have political parties and how the world would work.
0:10:17
But, no.
0:10:18
I mean, I think you could see in the ways that assembly member Mundani appealed to a much broader group of people than than in the past, brought a whole set of new registrants in many more than four years ago.
0:10:30
There are changes I would support, like, think in Albany, making it possible to change your party registration much closer to the date of the election.
0:10:38
It should not be Valentine's Day.
0:10:40
That's your last chance to change your party registration.
0:10:43
We should have same day registration.
0:10:45
We should let people change their registration later.
0:10:47
But saying to people, you can't have a democratic primary, even though, like, that's how we do politics in America, I don't think it will improve outreach.
0:10:56
I think it will actually diminish outreach.
0:10:58
People won't know who you're talking to or understand why they're you know, like, what kind of primary they're coming out to engage in.
Diane Savino
0:11:05
But those are the very people you have to speak to in a general election if you're successful on And
Brad Lander
0:11:09
we'll have a general election in November like we always do.
0:11:12
I mean, objecting to say we shouldn't this is like saying to me, we shouldn't have political parties.
0:11:16
Like, we should, like, erase them from American politics.
0:11:18
We have primaries, and then we have a general election, and you form up into a party.
0:11:24
You debate what the vision for that party should be.
0:11:27
That's what a primary is, and then you go have a general election.
0:11:31
That's American political history.
0:11:33
It's New York political history.
Diane Savino
0:11:35
So I I just have two more questions, then I'll move then I'll let you go, or maybe other people have questions for you.
0:11:40
So but what do we say to the 1,100,000 and growing number of unaffiliated voters who are deliberately cut out of this process because they don't wanna belong they don't wanna register in a party.
0:11:51
They don't want to party raid, which we join the party so I can vote for Brad Lander and then disenroll, as quickly as possible so I'm not beholden to that party whose views I may not necessarily agree to.
0:12:01
What do we say to those people?
Brad Lander
0:12:02
Well, one, I mean, we could go to Albany and make it more possible for them at a later stage in the election to decide that they do want to engage in a party primary this year because they're excited about candidates or unhappy about candidates who are offering, they're perfectly free to choose do they want to engage in a party primary in the primary election or not, and then they'll get to vote in the general election.
0:12:25
And honestly, this year is offering people multiple candidates in the general election.
0:12:30
It's not just going to be the two major party candidates.
0:12:33
They're not excluded.
0:12:34
They're offered an opportunity to engage in a party primary, and then an opportunity to engage in the general election.
0:12:40
And if they don't want to take part in the party primary, that's a 100% their choice.
0:12:45
No one's forcing them one way or another.
0:12:48
That's how we've done politics in this country for two fifty years.
0:12:51
It is not perfect, but I don't see why we would change it now other than some sour losers wanna overturn the results of an election we just
Diane Savino
0:13:00
I I I don't really think that's the motivation of the hundreds of people who've come to us, say that they feel that they are carved out of the decision making process of who gets to run this city because of the fact that they do not want to belong to either major party or even any of the minor parties.
0:13:14
And so I just think that towards the extent that we're able to expand the franchise, that is something that needs that definitely should be considered.
0:13:22
But whether we arrive there or not is still an open question.
0:13:25
But expanding the franchise is important, and it was so important that I think a few years ago, you and several others participated in passing legislation to expand sit noncitizen voting in an effort to expand the franchise that people who did not have the ability to choose their leaders in this city, although they were paying taxes, although they were participating in sending their children to school, they should have that right.
0:13:46
So I'm just trying to figure out why it's okay for one group, but not for the other.
Brad Lander
0:13:51
Well, I absolutely agree with work to expand the franchise.
0:13:53
It's why I support your proposal to shift it from to even years.
0:13:57
It's why I would support efforts in Albany to push back the deadline when you can change your party primary.
0:14:03
It's why I supported universal mail in voting.
0:14:05
There are many other thing.
0:14:06
It's why I supported noncitizen voting in that election.
0:14:10
But doing away essentially with political parties, saying we're not going to have party primaries or allow there to be like, I don't know what a political party even is if you can't have a primary and choose your candidate.
0:14:24
And, I mean, the founders had some anxieties about political parties, but we have had them for two hundred and fifty years.
0:14:30
I have a lot of times when I'm livid with Democratic party leadership and institutions, but I think it's valuable to have primaries in which you put your ideas out and choose your fighter, and that's what a primary election is.
0:14:43
That's what a political party does.
0:14:45
It's what general elections are for, and I do think that's valuable.
0:14:49
So in addition to other efforts to expand the franchise, this one I don't support.