The Congressional Primaries on Tuesday was democracy with a very little “d” because of the slight voter turnout, government watchdog groups said yesterday.
While both Brooklyn incumbents that had a race – U.S. Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Nydia Velazquez – easily bested their opponents to retain their seats, the turnout was miniscule.
In the 7th Congressional District race, where Velazquez won, there were 189,173 actively enrolled Democrats in the Kings County area of the District, but only 10,603 voted. In the 10th Congressional District race, where Nadler won, there were 68,455 actively enrolled Democrats in the Kings County area of the District, but only 2,953 voted.
Dick Dadey, Executive Director of Citizens United, a watchdog group fighting for political reform, said it is not surprising that voters did not turn out for the primary in high numbers.
“The primary was the second of four election days that New Yorkers have to turn out for. When we hold elections at different times during the year we are creating hurdles for New Yorker’s participation in elections,” said Dadey.
Dadey recommended that the state hold fewer elections, and that the congressional and state primaries be held on the same day. Voters also should have more days to vote and mail-in ballots should be available to avoid the problem of travel for some, he said.
Dadey said most importantly, more competitive elections need to be held, which is difficult due to district lines drawn in favor of certain parties and the incumbent. and also because money is on the side of the incumbent, ” he added.
Gene Russianoff, Senior Attorney at NYPIRG (New York Public Interest Research Group), was also unhappy with the level of participation at Tuesday’s primaries.
Russianoff said that low media coverage of the primaries was partly to blame for the low voter turnout. He added that to reform the election process early and same day registration is needed as well as early voting and consolidating primaries.
The primary after more than 160,00 voters were purged from the rolls in Brooklyn for the recent presidential primary. A good many of these voters that were wrongfully purged were reportedly put back on the rolls for the Congressional primaries.
The city’s Board of Elections did not respond to several inquires in regrads to this story at post time.
