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Guide to New York City's 2003 Ballot Proposals


Oct 20, 2003

 

The Six Questions

1. Paying for Sewage Systems
2. Paying for Schools in Small Cities
3. Non-Partisan Elections
4. City Purchasing
5. Government Administration
6. Class Size

Overview of Ballot Proposals

Related Links

New York City Campaign Finance Board - Voter's guide provides information on ballot proposals and candidates.

New York City Board of Elections

New York City Charter Commission


QUESTION 3: NON-PARTISAN ELECTIONS

This proposal would establish a new system of elections for city offices of mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough presidents, and City Council member.

The September primary would be open to all candidates and voters, regardless of party affiliation. Candidates can still list their party affiliation on the ballot. The top two vote getters would then compete in the November general election.

In addition, if a candidate participates in the city's Campaign Finance Program, they would not be able to accept donations from political parties or party committees. The changes would go into effect for the 2009 elections. (Text of the question as it will appear on the ballot.)

PRO

Michael Bloomberg committed to nonpartisan elections while still a candidate.

"When you have partisan elections, a very small group of people determines who gets elected," the mayor said, "because it's such a small group that votes in the primary, and they pick a candidate and when you have one party that is dominant, another candidate from another party really doesn't have much of a chance."

The mayor and the charter commission say that the ballot initiative will increase voter turnout, increase minority participation, create better choices for voters, and limit the corruption of party politics.

More than 80 percent of the largest cities in the country already elect mayors through nonpartisan elections. Under the proposed amendment, the charter commission contends, 700,000 more people would be eligible to vote in the September election. And advocates argue that New Yorkers need only look at the recent September primary - where turnout was only 11 percent and nearly every incumbent City Council member was victorious - to see why the city's system should change.

Proponents of nonpartisan elections also argue that local issues - like trash, crime, education, and mass transit - are not partisan issues, and that candidates should not be elected in manner that gives too much say to the political parties.

"The issue is whether we continue to allow a small group of party officials to determine both who gets on the ballot and who can vote in elections that matter, or do we expand opportunity and access," wrote Frank Macchiarola, the chair of the charter commission in his article It Is Time for Non Partisan Elections.

CON

Opponents prefer the phrase "eliminating party primaries" to "nonpartisan elections" and argue that the proposal is an underhanded way of getting more rich Republicans elected to office.

Mayor Bloomberg, critics say, owes his seat to the Independence Party, and is doing this to repay them.

"It is wrong for a mayor to repay a 'party boss' by convening the fifth charter commission in six years after the city previously had only five over the prior 100 years," wrote Mark Green in his article Crusading for Some Real Reforms.

Critics also contend that studies show that minority representation and voter participation have not increased in cities that have nonpartisan elections. And that this kind of nonpartisan elections has no track record in a city like New York.

"The proposed eletion system is a rarely used and never studied hybrid," said Douglas Muzzio, professor at Baruch College. "The commission did not examine this system as it might interact with New York's uniue demography, geography, and politics, particularly the synergistic effects with term limits and campaign finance."

And while many local issues - like fixing potholes - may not be partisan issues, candidates of different parties often have widely different ways of paying for these issues.

Political ideology, they say, still matters.

The Six Questions

1. Paying for Sewage Systems
2. Paying for Schools in Small Cities
3. Non-Partisan Elections
4. City Purchasing
5. Government Administration
6. Class Size

Overview of Ballot Proposals

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