Unite NY in the News: Why Buffalo New York Needs Democracy Reform Now

The Challenger Community News recently published an op-ed by Anthony Thomas, executive director of Unite NY, and Tyrell Ford, executive director of Voice Buffalo, highlighting the importance of electoral reform in Buffalo, including ranked choice voting, expanded ballot access and open primaries.

In the piece, Thomas and Ford argue that many Buffalo residents still feel excluded from meaningful participation in the political process.

The op-ed highlights reforms currently under discussion before the Buffalo Charter Revision Commission, including:

• Expanding ballot access requirements to make it easier for independent and non-establishment candidates to compete

• Ranked choice voting (RCV), which allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference

• Open primaries, which would allow independent voters to participate in primary elections

These reforms could help ensure Buffalo elections are more representative, competitive and accessible to everyday residents — not just well-connected political insiders.

“While Mayor Ryan seems to be tackling a longstanding municipal debt burden, Buffalo continues to face challenges including our city’s crisis of abandoned homes and homelessness. The governance solutions to these problems won’t come from the same thinking or the same systems that got us here.

Buffalo has an opportunity to make our elections more competitive, democratic and solution-focused. But more importantly, electoral reform is about ensuring all people truly belong. When the system is accessible to everyone, voters have a voice that truly matters,” the authors write.

Read the full article here.