The Missing Point: I CAN’T VOTE TODAY

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks now, I wanted to get it out there before any more time passes. I have yet to contact The New York Board of Elections or whomever else I may need to in order to more clearly understand the ramifications of what I am about to share, and what it means for New York State elections going forward. So New Yorkers – PLEASE get on the horn, followup, and let me know what you dig up. It’s your vote – use it wisely.

On September 12th, many of my friends were proudly displaying their “I voted” stickers and urging others to get out the vote. In response I wrote into the algorithmic void, “I appreciate my many friends mobilizing to GOTV, but just a reminder that if you are not registered in one of the two major parties, there is no vote today. #Democracy #CountEveryVote #OpenPrimaries”

This would be the first time since I could vote, that I would not vote, relegated to the undemocratic limbo that New York’s independent voters find themselves in every primary day.

I have heard the argument more than once that the parties should have autonomy over who they want to nominate. Given that all things were equal, I could see some validity to this, but all things are not equal. Come November a third of the state’s registered voters will be expected to choose from candidates whose nomination process they have no say in. The choice between the two major party nominees will be all but sewn up before these independents even cast their votes. Coke or Pepsi.

At least that’s how it was a moment ago. What what?

Walking by my polling place, a man asked if I was voting today. I answered that I could not vote today, and he quickly moved on. I felt very solitary in this statement, as if my saying it aloud made it that much more real. I wasn’t really sure what would happen if I tried to vote. I had read something earlier in the day about people voting using a Reform Party ballot, and then it occurred to me that I could just go inside and ask if there was any way for me to vote today. So that is what I did.

The first poll worker I spoke to asked my name, and found me in his book. We talked a bit about my no longer being a registered Democrat. He suggested that I go to the table corresponding to my Election District and see if I was still in the book there, perhaps still listed as a Democrat... When I inquired about the Reform Party ballot he suggested that I talk to another poll worker who was more versed on the specifics.

I was able to ask that poll worker, at another table, specifically how I might vote today. After I explained my situation, she told me I had two options. I could vote by affidavit with a Democratic Party ballot, which I knew would ultimately not be counted since I was no longer a Democrat. Or I could vote using the Reform Party ballot. She had samples of the two ballots there so I could see them, and she explained (paraphrasing here) that I could actually fill out the ballot up to three times, if I wanted to test the process, without actually casting my vote.

Unlike the fully stocked Democratic ballot, the Reform ballot only had two candidates, one for New York City Mayor, and one for Brooklyn Borough President. But more importantly the ballot had a blank space for write ins under each of the candidates endorsed by the Reform Party. So, it appeared that I actually could vote today, but only for these two offices.

I then went to the table corresponding to my Election District and they looked up my name in the book. Along side my name was the acronym BLA, which the two poll workers explained to me was “Blank.” They told me that they had received no training to handle this situation, that they were informed about the Reform Party ballot just that morning. There was a one sheet adhered to the table that instructed them to give a Reform Party ballot to anyone listed as BLA in the book. This was the key apparently, you had to NOT be enrolled in any other party (besides Reform Party, of course) to vote using the Reform Party ballot. I signed the book, and they gave me the ballot.

So now I could write in whomever I wanted for these two offices. I decided that I would test this thing out by voting for someone that I would be able to track in the results – myself. I wrote in Thomas Gallagher for Mayor and Marcel Duchamp for Brooklyn Borough President.

When I took my filled out ballot to the scanner, I asked that poll worker how the machine would count my write in votes. He explained that it would record that I had voted, and someone would come at the end of the day to record the write ins by hand. He informed me that these results would be posted on the Board of Elections website in about two weeks.

I put it on my calendar and lo and behold:

So what is the take away? Well, it appears that unaffiliated independent voters can vote for whoever they wish in the primary using the Reform Party ballot. This appears to be a function of the Reform Party charter, rather than statewide election law. To be clear, these votes determine who the Reform Party candidates will be, completely separate from the Democratic and Republican primary process. So it isn’t actually an open primary, but it is certainly a crack in the ice.

Could this be leveraged to present a challenge to the state’s two party duopoly? Even if the Reform Party will accept whoever gets the most votes as their nominee, what are the ramifications of independents en masse fortifying the Reform Party line by using this option? Could this be expanded upon by other third parties? Perhaps I will be able to vote for more than two offices in the next primary...

For those that are wondering, Marcel Duchamp didn’t get recorded as a write in for Brooklyn Borough President. I see one vote noted as “UNATTRIBUTABLE WRITE-IN (WRITE-IN)” and then ultimately listed as “Unrecorded.” I believe this is my vote. For those unfamiliar, Duchamp is widely regarded as the godfather of modern art. He died in 1968.