Rank the Vote NYC Testifies To Charter Review Commission on Open Primary Ballot Proposal

NEW YORK, NY (07/08/2025) (readMedia)-- Yesterday, Rank the Vote NYC Lead Organizer Nia Alvarez-Mapp testified before the New York City Charter Review Commission on a potential ballot initiative that would ask voters to consider "opening up" New York City's primary elections. The hearing was the last public input session before the Commission issues a final recommendation on July 21st on which housing and election reforms should be included on this November's ballot. Her full testimony, as written, is attached and below.

In her testimony, Alvarez-Mapp stated that, "We at Rank the Vote NYC want to acknowledge that New Yorkers welcome expansion, anything that brings out voters" but urged the Commission to provide more time before advancing a proposal to voters. She continued: "I urge you to give our organizations more time to research the different types of open primaries and, hopefully, build a broad consensus around a form of open primaries that will work for all of New York City's diverse communities before placing the issue before the voters."

Alvarez-Mapp also highlighted how the rushed effort to propose reforms to New York City's primary system stands in strong opposition to the deliberative, six-year process that advocates spent to build consensus before introducing ranked choice voting.

Last week, the Charter Review Commission released its interim report, which recommended five ballot proposals to be included on this year's ballot. Notably, the Commission declined to officially recommend a sixth question that would deal with open primaries, stating, "The Commission is mindful that New York City recently implemented a significant change to its electoral system in the form of ranked choice voting... and some on the Commission are concerned that a year with hotly contested local elections on the ballot creates an inhospitable climate for discussion about an election reform of this magnitude." Still, the Commission confirmed it has not made a final decision and stated that it is especially interested in "hearing from New Yorkers about their views on this potential proposal," before issuing a final recommendation on July 21st.

Read the full testimony from Nia Alvarez-Mapp below:

Greetings to the commissioners,

My name is Nia Alvarez-Mapp, and I am the Lead Organizer for Rank the Vote NYC - a coalition of coalitions and organizations united by one goal: ensuring that all eligible New Yorkers are not only able to vote, but also fully understand the voting system they'll encounter, whether or not they choose to use it to their full advantage.

This effort began six years ago, when people from diverse backgrounds came together to ask commissioners - like those of you here today - to allow an unfamiliar system called Ranked Choice Voting to appear as a ballot proposal. It's safe to say we've seen the success of that initiative, as demonstrated by the nearly one million New Yorkers who turned out to vote in this year's primary.

But as I mentioned earlier, this was a six-year effort that required significant community buy-in, and even now, many New Yorkers are still getting accustomed to it, especially since state and federal elections continue to use traditional voting methods. We at Rank the Vote NYC want to acknowledge that New Yorkers welcome expansion, anything that brings out voters, but I urge you to keep it simple- easy to explain, like closed semi-open primaries. The results look like a breeze on June 24th-July 1st, but no one ever considers the 9 months of preparing for this result, semi-weekly to monthly meetings, the countless phone calls, the door knocking, translation work, the civic education that this city desperately lacks, voter apathy, hot and cold rooms, the amount of supplies, yelling over a subway, or praying that the wifi works, late nights and early mornings but most importantly the community effort it takes to do this wonderful work so that the people can be heard, so people can feel like they matter, so voters new and old don't default and do not show up.

Because of that work, the more than 50 organizations that we work with in coalition to first pass RCV on the ballot and then to educate their communities so that voters use RCV, have been laser-focused on educating the voters in their communities and on GOTV. Some of these folks like Minkown Center for Community Action which works in the Korean community, Dominicanos USA that works with Spanish-speaking Dominican-Americans, Hispanic Federation, West Harlem Environmental Action (WE-ACT), The Hispanic Federation, and New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG), just to name a few, were not aware of the Charter Revision Commission's discussion of Open Primaries at all. These groups have told me that they have not conducted the research needed to form an opinion, because they have been so busy educating people and are taking time this week and last to recover from 9 months of intensive voter education. Many of the individuals we collaborate with at our partner organizations are not even reachable to share their position (or lack of one) with me, as they are away on vacation.

I fear that some of the groups that we work with are going to be forced to oppose an open primary measure on the November ballot because they have not had time to arrive at a considered opinion. Based on the conversations I have had with our partner organizations, I believe that moving forward with an Open Primary proposal this November will cause unnecessary division and opposition to primary reform. I urge you to give our organizations more time to research the different types of open primaries and, hopefully, build a broad consensus around a form of open primaries that will work for all of New York City's diverse communities before placing the issue before the voters.