Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
TESTIMONY
Testimony by Cheryl Williams on closed primaries as a form of modern-day voter exclusion
4:21:40
·
3 min
Cheryl Williams, speaking as a concerned citizen, testifies in favor of open primaries, drawing a parallel between the Jim Crow laws her mother grew up under and today's party affiliation laws that exclude independent voters.
She quotes James Baldwin on the right to criticize America and argues that if you believe in democracy, you must act to let every voter participate.
She asks the commission to put top-two primaries on the ballot to let the voices of the many be heard.
- Williams compares modern closed primaries to the poll taxes and literacy tests of the Jim Crow era.
- As a registered independent, she feels she helps fund elections she is barred from participating in.
- She believes that to live up to America's promise of democracy, every voter must have a voice.
- She urges the commission to put top-two primaries on the ballot so that independents can be let in.
Julien Segura
4:21:40
Alright.
4:21:41
Thanks, everybody, for being very patient.
4:21:43
My name is Julian Segura.
4:21:45
I am a political activist, political strategist from Sugar Hill in Harlem, a little bit north of here.
4:21:51
So firstly, I'm gonna talk about the the housing proposals.
4:21:54
The first three, fast tracking affordable housing expediter review, new ULURP appeals board.
4:21:59
I feel like they're all dangerous forms of consolidation of power away from the city council and community boards, which can fuel gentrification, which happened in my neighborhood and all of the surrounding ones, by cutting out ULURP, going against member deference, and drowning out community voices whose proposed developments would directly impact.
4:22:17
Digitized city map, it's long overdue.
4:22:20
I mean, you know, one county has it.
4:22:22
We should do it for the rest.
4:22:23
Even your elections, my god, as a civic activist, political consultant, and strategist, and former down ballot candidate last year, I can tell you right now, I strongly believe that even your elections will have the opposite of the intended effect working against voter turnout and making more barriers for down ballot candidates to campaign.
4:22:40
This year, already talking to candidates about public advocate controller and what I was dealing with, a city council open seat that I was managing this year, it was incredibly difficult.
4:22:51
Of the 14,000 people who showed up in District 30 to vote, the open seat that I was managing someone in, 2,000 didn't vote for anything but mayor.
4:23:00
And so it it led to a result where because there were five different groups to look at five different things on the ballot to deal with five different positions, People only cared about the first one, and there was so much messaging about the first one and five people there.
4:23:15
People already struggle to remember two or three names.
4:23:18
They they were pushed to remember five walking into the mayor's race.
4:23:21
How the hell are you gonna remember 20 people?
4:23:23
I mean, even me as as a guy who pays attention to elections is a massive nerd, you know, I'm not gonna remember every damn name on on the ballot.
4:23:31
It's it's impossible to ask.
4:23:35
Now beyond that, open primaries, finally.
4:23:38
I've been a major advocate for open primaries for many years.
4:23:41
I was the only candidate for state legislature last year that pushed for open primaries, and I'm excited to see the city charter commission consider this for a ballot proposal.
4:23:50
However, the top two system, is is not is not one that I advocate for because it would be the least democratic form of open primary, and one that would arguably, and I agree with dissenters, that it would favor large donors and packs and independent expenditures that have bought many seats this year and since Citizens United, decision was made.
4:24:12
So I would push four if, as the, the report suggested, it's only between top two and top four.
4:24:19
I would suggest that we look at top four as a ballot proposal instead of top two.
4:24:23
Unfortunately, many of the people who came in here didn't read the piece of paper, and didn't realize that you guys wanted input on which form you'd like.
4:24:32
Finally, I would like you to consider a true open primary system that maintains partisan primaries but allows independent voters to decide which primary they wanna participate in so that we can enfranchise independent voters without, creating a worse election system, which I would unfortunately have to advocate against.