Reformers are using low turnout in New York's mayoral election as an excuse to call for sweeping changes to our voting laws and procedures. But they're trying to repair something that may not be broken, writes errollouis
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images New York just set a record for low turnout in a mayoral election with only about 21 percent of active voters casting a ballot in last month’s municipal elections. Predictably, reformers are using the results as an excuse to call for sweeping changes to our voting laws and procedures.
Over the last three decades, we’ve added one reform after another. Under the city’s campaign-finance system, candidates can now get an eight-to-one match for local donations, the most generous program in America. Corporate donations are banned, and independent expenditure groups must disclose their activities.
Undaunted, reformers have proposed a slew of even more rules changes. We recently had a statewide ballot proposal that would have allowed New Yorkers to register and vote on the same day . The proposal failed. Start with the often-overlooked fact it was written into New York’s Constitution in 1894 — at the behest of reformers — that municipal elections take place in odd-numbered years in the specific hope of preventing the city from dominating the rest of the state in contests for state and federal offices.
Centuries later, party labels remain a helpful shorthand for determining where a candidate stands on important issues. You won’t find many New York Democrats who support union-busting or lowering the minimum wage; you also won’t find Republicans who want to hike income taxes or extend voting rights to noncitizens. Party allegiance is a helpful guide for voters who don’t have a lot of time to invest in figuring out where a candidate is coming from.
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