There are three special elections tomorrow in the city for vacant positions in the state Legislature in Albany, but we will tell you today who will win: The Democratic Party’s candidates.
And since there were no primaries to choose the Democratic nominees for a state Senate seat and two in the Assembly, the voters are left on the outside and party insiders alone are picking our legislators.
Far fairer would be to have primaries in cases of vacancies or, even better, to have nonpartisan elections with all contenders on the ballot. We only have to look across the river at New Jersey for how to handle primaries for special elections or the New York City Council for nonpartisan specials.
There are three ways to conduct special elections and the Senate and Assembly do it in the worst possible way. Of course they do, because who will stop them?
Erik Bottcher will succeed Brad Hoylman-Sigal as a state senator from Manhattan’s West Side. Hoylman-Sigal resigned after he was elected as Manhattan borough president and took office on Jan. 1.
Also in Manhattan, but on the East Side, Keith Powers will become the new assemblyman, replacing Harvey Epstein, who was elected to the City Council.
And in Queens, Diana Moreno will fill the Assembly seat of Zohran Mamdani, who is now mayor.
Bottcher and Powers both have Republican opponents, who won’t win. There is no Republican who won’t win facing Moreno, but she does have two rivals running on made-up ballot lines named Queens For All and People First. Don’t expect an upset.
Mikie Sherrill resigned her congressional seat in New Jersey after she was elected governor. There are 13 Democrats running in the special primary election, which is this Thursday. The winner, who could prevail with less than 8% of the votes cast, will face the GOP candidate (who has no primary) on April 16 (also a Thursday). That is a much fairer and more open process, letting the voters decide.
But the best option is to have a nonpartisan special. And Manhattan will soon have one of those. Bottcher, the certain to be state senator, is now a councilman. After he moves to the Senate, his West Side Council seat will be vacant, requiring a special election. That will be open to all and have ranked-choice voting, which means that all voters get a voice and the eventual winner will have majority support, not what could be the tiny percentage from a large field like the present primary in Jersey.
The only change needed to perfect the nonpartisan special elections for City Council is to have the candidates appear on the ballot in a randomly determined order, as is done for regular primaries, instead of the first-come, first-listed game that is now used. The city Board of Elections should take the good government initiative and pass such a new rule.
And as we’ve long said, all local elections, not just specials, should be nonpartisan and ranked choice. It is the most open, most democratic and most inclusive method. The people, all the people, get to decide, not just those registered in a political party or, in case of this ridiculous special tomorrow, just the party insiders. Isn’t that what democracy is supposed to be?
