Unite NY in the News: Petition Drive to Let Independents Vote Delivers 45,000 Signatures to NYC Clerk
Unite NY
Independent Voter News covered Unite NY's petition drive in New York City to bring open primaries to the city.
"New York City — Unite NY submitted more than 45,000 signatures to the New York City Clerk's office on July 2, seeking to put a question on the ballot to let voters decide whether to open the city's closed primary system and use ranked-choice voting for its municipal elections.
Under current law, more than 1.1 million New York City registered voters are unaffiliated and are barred from voting in primaries.
New York is a total outlier among major cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston all hold some form of nonpartisan municipal elections.
Unite NY’s petition is unique in some important ways. The new law, if passed, would create a June primary election open to all registered voters, similar to the nonpartisan primaries in California, Washington, and Alaska. In the primary, voters can rank up to five candidates, and the Top 3 finishers advance to the general election in November."
