CJS Decision 2024

Syndi Pilar lives in New York’s Assembly District 69, which covers Manhattan Valley and Morningside Heights neighborhoods. Pilar’s assembly district is one of the 150 seats that are up for election this November, with Micah Lasher (Democrat) who will be uncontested for the general election.  

But like many New York City residents, Pilar, 51, doesn’t know much about this race or other local elections. 

“Embarrassingly nothing,” is how Pilar describes her knowledge of the candidates and the issues on which they are campaigning. She has never voted in any local election and does not intend to vote in this upcoming assembly race. 

Pilar’s story exemplifies a wider, troubling trend among the city’s voters. Voter turnout was low during last June’s assembly primary elections in New York City. Out of the five million enrolled voters in the city, less than one percent voted in the 2024 primaries. Several factors led to this disengagement of voters, including closed primaries, a large number of uncontested races, and a lack of civic literacy. The result is that a small proportion of New Yorkers make decisions that can impact the everyday lives of the 8.3 million people who call the city home. 

In District 50, for example, which covers the north Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg, incumbent Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher won the Democratic primary with 4,652 out of 6,203 total votes. That means that just 3.4 percent of District 50’s 138,247 residents cast ballots in the primary to secure Gallagher’s position as the only candidate in November’s general election. Similarly, in District 84 in the south Bronx, which has a population of 135,384, Assemblywoman Amanda Septimo won the Democratic primary with 1,511 votes out of 2,095. Voter turnout there was three times lower than in District 50. 

Experts say voter disengagement could be blamed on feelings that elections will not change their everyday circumstances. This is especially the case, they say, among working-class and poor voters.

“A lot of working-class people feel that the major things that are determining their lives are not necessarily on the ballot, that they are not going to be able to effectively change their lives through elections,” said Andrew Epstein, Gallagher’s former chief of staff who ran the assemblywoman’s campaign.

Census data from 2022 shows that the median household income in District 50 was $114,358, and $33,626 in District 84.

While District 50's voter turnout was higher than that of District 84, both districts experienced a low voter turnout overall.  

Epstein says that lack of civic literacy could be another reason for voter disengagement. A recent study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation reveals that over 70 percent of Americans are unable to pass a basic civics quiz covering topics such as the three branches of government, the number of Supreme Court justices, and other fundamental aspects of American democracy.

“You could stop many New Yorkers on the street of different ages, different backgrounds, and if you ask them who is your assembly member, let alone what is the New York State Assembly, I don't think they know,” Epstein said. “Civic institutions have become hollowed out in this country with a real growing disconnect.”

Mona Singlefary, a longtime resident of District 56, which encompasses the neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant and parts of Crown Heights — and where incumbent Assemblywoman Stefani Zinerman is running uncontested in November — said she did not know about her district’s candidate. 

“I don't know enough to make an informed decision,” Singlefary said. 

Epstein believes the disconnect between voters and local politics is compounded by the increasing nationalization of politics, a trend that has accelerated since the 2016 election of former President Donald Trump. The closure of many local news outlets and a growing reliance on national media have only magnified this shift, he said. As a result, Epstein noted, people are now less engaged with local politics, their attention drawn away instead to the broader national stage. 

“When people think about elections, they think about decisions that the government is making in Washington, D.C.,” Epstein said. “I am worried that people generally think of politics on the national scale and not the city,” he added. 

New York City did experience a brief surge in voter turnout in 2020. District 50, for example, recorded over 19,000 votes in the primary alone that year — more than three times the 2024 turnout. But Epstein suspects this rise had more to do with inflection points within American society. The COVID-19 pandemic, he explained, led more people to stay at home with “more time on their hands to consume local news and media.” The police killing of George Floyd and the resulting protests also likely mobilized voters, he said.

“I think turnout, to some degree, feels downstream of other trends and forces happening,” Epstein said. “The question is,” he continued, “how do you, in a more consistent way, connect the things that people care about and that impact their lives to actually participating in elections?” 

Epstein’s question is especially relevant, given this year’s nationwide voter turnout in primaries. Data from Unite America, a philanthropic venture fund dedicated to supporting nonpartisan election reforms, shows that just 7 percent of Americans voted to elect 87 percent of the United States House of Representatives. In other words, in a country of more than 334 million people, only 18.1 million Americans cast votes to determine 380 House seats in 2024.

“It’s really easy to register to vote and vote in New York State,” Tim Dunn, executive director of Unite New York, pointed out. “The challenge isn’t allowing people to vote on election day, but rather the way we hold up our elections.” 

The Barriers

Dunn identified two main problems with the way that New York holds elections, problems that he believes contribute to low turnout. 

The first issue is New York’s closed primaries process. A closed primary is a type of election in which only registered members of a particular political party can vote to choose that party's candidates (usually Democrats and Republicans). New York is one of only 10 states that have a closed primary process.

“There are 3.1 million New Yorkers that are not affiliated with a political party,” Dunn said, referring to the number of unaffiliated voters statewide. “They are legally barred from voting in our primaries,” he explained.  

In New York City, where more than five million people were registered to vote this year, one fifth of voters were listed in the “blank” category, meaning they were independent or non-affiliated, according to data from the New York City Board of Elections. These voters – who are twice as numerous as those affiliated with the Republican Party, and who account for more than those registered with the Republican, Conservative and Working Families parties combined— were unable to vote in the primary.

According to a press release from Unite New York, on June 25, an average of 15 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the primary election in New York State.

“The candidates that come forward on election day are rarely representative of the people’s choices. We often hear “we are choosing between the lesser of two evils” and “my vote doesn’t matter,”” Dunn said. 

When comparing voter turnout between primaries and general elections in Assembly District 50, the numbers can seem illogical. In Greenpoint, 8,343 voters cast ballots during the 2022 Democratic primary. Because there were no other Republican candidates, this election was decisive as the winner would be uncontested for the general election. Although Gallagher was the only candidate in the primary and therefore guaranteed election, 27,681 people still turned out to vote for her in the general election.

“It’s because the pool is so limited. You're limiting (it) to just Democrats or just Republicans who are able to vote in that primary. Those districts are drawn in such a way that the primaries are going to determine the outcome,” Dunn said. 

Closed primaries lead to many uncontested general elections. Over the 150 assembly districts in New York State and the 242 primaries that took place in 2024, 211 were uncontested. Voters had the opportunity to choose between several primary candidates in only 12.8 percent of races.

Epstein explained that the turnout in the June 2024 primary for District 50 was even lower than in 2022. But according to him, Gallagher will get more votes in the general election than she did two years ago, because “everybody’s going to be turning out to vote for the presidential.”

“People get to the voting booth and think ‘I am a good democrat, I want to participate in Democrats winning the House’,” Epstein said. “People just vote for those races, which may or may not be contested.”

Dunn believes elections should be handled in such a way that they embody the voices of the voters, and not by how they enrich the parties.  

“It’s got to start with our elected representatives. They’ve got to stop thinking about their next election and more about how to preserve, protect and defend our democracy,” Dunn said.  

How To Attract Voters With Fairer Elections? 

Dunn says that more voters might participate in elections if New York enacted open primaries. According to Epstein, this could be met with a great deal of resistance from the parties and particularly the Democratic party in New York, who might see open primaries as a “threat.”

But Dunn pointed out that bylaws could be changed. “It doesn’t require state legislation,” he said. 

In addition to open primaries, ranked choice voting could also lead to more voter engagement, Dunn said. 

Unlike in the current system, where voters can choose only one candidate, ranked choice voting allows voters to rank up to five candidates in order of preference, starting with their first choice and so on. 

“It could be a Republican, Democrat, Conservative, Independent, you name it. It could trigger an all-candidate, all-voter primary. All voters would be able to participate and all candidates would be on a single primary ballot,” Dunn explained.

In this system, the two top candidates would advance to the general election. Instead of someone running unopposed, there could be two Democrats represented for instance. 

This voting method could attenuate voters’ feeling of having to choose “the lesser of two evils,” which breeds apathy and cynicism, Epstein said. “You could actually vote for the candidate that most aligns with your vision and values, regardless of how strong a chance you think they can win,” he said. 

Dunn also perceives the ranked choice voting as a way to reduce toxicity. By ranking candidates rather than choosing just one, voters can focus on actual politics and not tear each other down,” he said.

Ranked choice voting was tested in New York City during the 2021 mayoral primary. According to the Unite America Institute, the outcome showed positive voter engagement. This method was also successfully implemented in Alaska. 

“I think that ranked system actually alleviates a lot of that anxiety,” said Michael Garcia, a school teacher living in District 72. Garcia voted in his district’s 2024 assembly primary election and knows about politics thanks to a “good friend that helps (him) stay on top.”

Dunn sees reform as a necessity to engage voters. “Our elected officials have to do something more to bring hope back to voters,” he said. “Our democracy is absolutely in peril.”