Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
Nelson King, Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean L 10 ife, JULY 9-15, 2021
By Council Member Antonio
Reynoso and Mariana
Alexander
The New York City Board
of Elections has, once again,
undermined New Yorkers’
faith in our elections.
New Yorkers deserve election
administrators that can
effectively get the job done.
Instead, we have an outdated
partisan structure that
allows for crucial positions to
be filled through patronage,
resulting in mistakes being
made over and over and over
again. Last week’s inclusion
of 130,000 dummy votes in
the initial ranked choice tally
must be the last straw.
It feels like Groundhog Day
every election cycle.
We just want to be clear:
this is not ranked choice voting’s
fault. The same politicians
blaming ranked choice
voting for the BOE’s failure
are protecting the status quo
because it benefits them.
Adopted overwhelmingly by
NYC voters as a fairer way
to decide crowded primary
races, ranked choice voting
operates successfully in many
regions of the country. But
the NYC BOE has produced a
series of failures that started
long before ranked choice voting
came to NYC. As recently
as 2020, the Board disenfranchised
thousands of voters
by misprinting absentee ballots.
Does that mean people
shouldn’t be allowed to vote
absentee? Of course not.
This is not to disparage the
BOE staff who work long hours
in difficult conditions. It’s the
partisan BOE leadership —
10 commissioners picked by
party leaders in each borough
— who have failed workers
and voters by neglecting to
provide essential resources or
hire professionals who know
how to effectively administer
elections. Political squabbles
between state and local election
officials have prevented
the BOE from allocating the
time and resources necessary
to properly administer elections,
and political appointees
are rarely held accountable for
the BOE’s repeated failures.
In its current structure,
the BOE is set up to fail. It’s
time for our elected officials
to turn it around. Instead of
pointing fingers with no real
action, the state legislature
must take responsibility and
pass legislation to restructure
the BOE.
Luckily, we have a plan to
fix it.
First, we must amend the
New York State Constitution
to make state and county
Boards of Elections nonpartisan,
rather than bipartisan,
and include safeguards against
nepotism and political patronage
at all levels. Amending the
Constitution is no easy task
— two consecutive state legislatures
must pass it before
a measure is brought to voters.
So let’s start now. And
while we wait, county parties
should nominate BOE commissioners
through a competitive,
transparent process
that includes a vote of the
entire County Committee and
not just party leaders.
Instead of the current system
of political patronage and
nepotism, the BOE’s professional
staff should be hired
based on merit, through a
competitive process, without
consideration of their political
party membership, political
activities, or personal relationships.
This is how other
government agencies do it, so
why not the BOE? Poll workers
should also be hired without
consideration of their political
party membership, and
poll worker training should be
improved.
In addition, the New York
State Legislature should adequately
fund election administration.
And the New York
City Council should use its
appointment authority to
ensure potential BOE Commissioners
are committed
to reform, and hold the
BOE accountable for its failures.
Stop rubber stamping
unqualified nominees.
New Yorkers deserve a BOE
that can manage elections
competently and fairly. New
Kings Democrats, Common
Cause/NY, and other organizations
have proposed these
solutions for years, and the
legislature has dithered while
the problem got worse. New
York State legislators must
act now to restructure this
dysfunctional institution —
before the next election cycle
brings another catastrophic
failure from the BOE.
City Council Member
Antonio Reynoso is leading
in the Democratic primary
to become the next Brooklyn
Borough president and Mariana
Alexander is President of
New Kings Democrats (NKD),
a political club dedicated to
reforming the Brooklyn Democratic
Party.
By Sarah E. Feinberg
At the close of last week, we
were thrilled to be able to share
some very positive news with our
riders and employees: Effective
immediately, due to the most significant
upgrade to the 311 system
since its creation more than
two decades ago, MTA New York
City Transit subway customers
can now use the 311 system to
request assistance for anyone
within the subway system.
That may sound like something
that should have been happening
all along, but it wasn’t — and this
important 311 upgrade comes at
a critically important moment for
our system, a time when public
transit, like the city it serves, is
rolling back from the depths of a
global pandemic.
As the city continues its economic
recovery, it is important
that we are doing all we can to
bring ridership back. Part of that
means allowing customers to use
every tool available when it comes
to reporting incidents in our system,
so we can address them and
get people the help they need.
Until now, dialing 911 was really
the only way to access immediate
and professional assistance for
someone in need. And 911 remains
the best option for true emergencies
— but in reality, many
situations don’t require a police
response. For example, in cases
where there’s a vulnerable individual
experiencing homelessness
or a mental health crisis, dialing
911 provides a law enforcement
response when what is needed is a
social services response. In cases
where police are not needed, it is
almost always more prudent to
call 311, so the city can connect
those in need with appropriate
services and resources.
Until the update last week, subway
customers were not able to do
this because the 311 system did
not geographically recognize the
subway system as part of the city.
I’m thrilled that this is no longer
the case.
NYC Transit has been asking
for this upgrade for a long time
now and I’m grateful to our City
partners for acting to eliminate
this gap in service. The subways
are a vital part of the city and
everyone in our system should
be entitled to the same support
they’d receive above ground.
So please, if you are in the subway
system and see someone who
needs immediate and professional
assistance, you can do your part
to request help for them by calling
311 or using the 311 app or
web portal. They are available 24
hours a day, seven days a week,
365 days a year.
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BOE needs to reform to give New
Yorkers confidence in future elections
MTA riders can now
access 311 if in need of
assistance on the train
Interim NYC Transit President,
Sarah Feinberg. Photo
by Todd Maisel
New York City voters utilized ranked-choice voting in
the June 22 primary for mayor. Photo by Dean Moses
/schnepsmedia.com