New York's Decreasing Voter Turnout

June or August Primaries Smaller Turnouts. How About Early Voting and Mail In Voting?

 New York City already has very low voter turnouts in the primaries. In the runoff primary that gave the democratic nomination to John Liu for comptroller he received just 2% of the votes from registered voter in the city.  If we make the primary during the summer the turnout will be even lower.

Summer in the City: Beaches, Barbecues -- and Ballots?(Gotham Gazette)

 New York's Incumbent Protection Society Is Planned

Other tools incumbent pols use to ensure phoney elections besides the corrupt election law is that they draw their own district (like they are doing right now) cutting out their opponents.  The recession which makes it harder to raise campaign funds for challengers and lack of public campaign financing also help keeps state pols in office forever.

 

New York ranks 48th in the nation with only 64 percent of eligible residents registered.

 

Nobody Votes, Special Interest Win

Breaking News: Liu and de Blasio Win N.Y. Primary Runoffs Turnout Is a Trickle in Primary Runoff * Terrorism Suspect Pleads Not Guilty *** 2009 MAYOR'S MANAGEMENT REPORT *** Senate Panel Rejects a ‘Public Option’ in Health Plan *** Companion Is Called to Testify at Monserrate Trial' *** COURT TOSSES RATHER SUIT *** Democratic Fundraiser Norman Hsu Sentenced to 24 Years *** Fund-Raiser Is Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison (NYT) Toyota Issues Massive Recall *** Bloomberg: Keep Runoffs, Dump Partisan Elections


Nobody Votes, Special Interest Win
Pay for Vote

How low voting increases slush fund extortion For the last few days the candidates have been going around promising everything but city hall's bathroom sink to special interests group in return for pulling out their members next Tuesday to vote for them. The groups being promised government pay to play include: the Democratic Machines, religious, racial and ethnic leaders, unions and lobbyists who pay for the campaigns, are already on the government tit for member items, programs and grants for themselves are becoming more empowered by the city's falling voter participation and declining media coverage of the issues and how those issues are important to the voters and their families The Real Campaign is to Suppress Challengers *** Tammany’s Ballot Control Again and Again

While the media reports low turnout expectations, where is the call for change of an election system that favors the permanent government and special interests. In 1965 when 14% of the democratic voters voted for Abe Beame in a runoffs there were calls for election reform that led to runoffs like today. Today less than 1% may vote and no media, good government or elected officials say a word. They all become the insiders in a very corrupt election system that cuts the public out for the most part on who wins elections.

Calls for a runoff were raised in 1965 after Abraham D. Beame won a four-way mayoral primary with 327,934 votes, which, with 32 percent of Democrats voting, meant that only about 14 percent of enrolled party members voted for him. He was defeated that year by John V. Lindsay, a liberal Republican congressman. "Democrats will be lucky if 150,000 people bother to vote. Polls show that the candidates are more or less evenly matched, meaning the winner may not get much more than 85,000 votes. That is ... equivalent to barely 1 percent of the city’s population *** Clyde Haberman coins a Safiresque phrase - "panjandrums of political prognostication" - while lamenting the expected low turnout *** NYT predicted turnout of 150,000 "is something every New Yorker should really be complaining about Tuesday’s Forgotten Election

The City's Falling Turnout The City's election results from a half-century ago look like misprints. 3.46 million out of the City's 3.53 million registered voters, a staggering 98%, cast ballots in the 1952 Presidential election. One year later, 93% of registered New Yorkers voted in the Mayoral election. Today, the bottom has fallen out for the City's electorate. Only 27% of the City's registered voters cast their ballots in the last mayoral election in 2005. 39% of registered voters took part in the Mayoral election of 1997. Voter turnout was less than 20% for City Council elections in 1999. NY's Falling Voter Participation

New York's Sinking Vote 1. 337,110 more New Yorkers voted in 2004 than 2008. 2. New York Ranked 42 of 50 in Voting Age Turnout 50.7% 2008. 3. In 1944 NY had 6,291,885 votes for president and 47 Electoral votes. 4. In 1944 Florida had 482,592 votes for president and 8 Electoral votes. 5. In 2008 Florida had 1,204,479 more votes for president than NY. 6. In 1944 New York had 3,423,467 more votes than California. 7. In 2008 California had 6,291,885 more votes than NY. 8. In 1944 New York cast 13.1% of the Nation's vote. 9. In 2008 New York cast 5.5% of the Nation's vote.



NY Times Democratic Machine Losing millions like every other newspaper in the Internet age, cutbacks in news coverage and sections, the Boston Globe union fight, a new headquarters which threatened before a government bailout of the mortgage company GMAC to bankrupt the paper. What are year for the "Old Gray Lady." The only piece left from 'The Kingdom and the Power" era is the blind following of many New Yorkers who still vote to candidates endorsed by the paper Endorsement Power: Times Vs. Daily News *** Smith: Who Really Flexed Muscle in Yesterday’s City Primaries? The New York Times *** The Times and Clyde Vanel (Gotham Gazette) *** Are We Losing the News that’s Fit to Print? (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) *** The Times finds a pony(NY Fiscal Watch) *** New York Times Co. Discloses Bonus, Stock Option Snafus (Editor and Publisher)

Bloomberg Knew Last Year the New Yorkers Were Not Voting 1.7% of all the registered voters voted in the city voted for Bloomberg on Tuesday. Before the paper is counted, the mayor received 548,660 out of the 4,657,516. The recent runoff does make Tuesday's vote look like a mandate. In New York the Democratic Primary is the real election, for most elective officers.. In the primary our new Comptroller John Liu received 127,173 or just 4% of the registered Democrats in the city (3,177,740) in the runoff. De Blasio did a little better with 138, 736, he got 4.4% of the city's democratic voters. John Liu was elected with just 2.7% of all the city's registered voters casting their vote for him.

Mayor O’Dwyer election in 1941, which took place one month before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor received 1,100,649 more votes than Bloomberg 68 years before mayor won his third term. The 1940 census reported the population of New York City to be 7,454,995. The most recent estimate from the City Planning Commission, as of July 1, 2009, gives the population of New York City as 8,363,710. Two decades before that Mayor John Francis Hylan(1921) Jimmy Walker(1925) both received 200,000 thousand more votes than Bloomberg on T

NY's Falling Voter Participation 2/17/2009

The Real Campaign is to Suppress Challengers

Tammany’s Ballot Control Again and Again

Organized Crime Politics Ballot Lines for Sale

Political PARTIES 4 SALE, Organized Crime Politics

Organize d Crime Politics, Rigged Elections

The Greatest Generation vs. Today's Take Albany Generation

What In A Mandate?

 worry--50% drop in primary turnout since '89

The Next Mayor? You Don't Care, Do You? (Village Voice)

In the Democratic Party Run Off John Liu Won with 2% of the Vote of All The Eligible Voters in the City

Voter Apathy Is Leaving Much of the City on the Sidelines of Democracy (NYT) "It is hard to recall when labor unions last turned the tide in a major NY election" writes @Powellnyt

The United Federation of Teachers once boasted great pull in Queens. Today, as the Queens-born academic Mitchell L. Moss notes, it most likely has more members in Boca Raton than in Kew Gardens.  * Last Tuesday, the WFP troops challenged the Assembly candidate of the Brooklyn boss Vito J. Lopez. Sustained though their challenge was, their candidate, Jesus Gonzalez, a young community organizer, lost.    New York's Decreasing Voter Turnout (True News)

 

If you care about NYC democracy, worry--50% drop in primary turnout since '89

The Next Mayor? You Don't Care, Do You? (Village Voice)

Well Someone Had to Win: Weak Candidate With A Weak Campaign Vs. Weak Mayor Damaged by Term Limits and Big Spending

Turnout Mostly About Race The media is reporting that the closeness of the mayor race was caused by Bloomberg support of changes to term limits and an anti incumbent nation wide vote. But if one examines the the NYT block by block results of the mayoral election you see that the vote had a lot to do with race. Staten Island except for the North Shore went for Bloomberg as did the Eastside of Manhattan. Harlem, Central Brooklyn and South East Queens went for Thompson. The racial voting pattern really stands out in South West Brooklyn where only Coney Island and Marboro Houses voted for Thompson, the only two neighborhoods in that area of Brooklyn where blacks live in mass. Thompson good showing is an out growth of last years Obama registration in the black communities, while Bloomberg failure to meet the poll spread had a lot to do with the white community unlearning the habit of voting because the incumbent elected officials in their areas get reelected without opposition year after year. Another clue to the closeness of the mayor's race Whites become minority on NYC council , The polls used the old turnout numbers without taking into account the great changes in the city's voting patterns Polls failed to predict tight contest in mayoral race *** Paterson Embolden by Thompson Results The gov starts his campaign commercials TV buys. His team is putting it out on the Internet and the press in hopes it will be talked about, like were doing here and pump up his very low poll numbers. Paterson is more likely to run his race on race, something Thompson refused to do Paterson Accuses Media Of Racism * Elsewhere: Did the Media Sink Thompson? Howard Kurtz scolds New York City reporters for not taking Thompson more seriously" Pollster looks to Cover His Ass Unreleased Marist Poll Showed Thompson Closing in on Bloomberg True News: NY's No Spin Zone While the Bloomberg campaign was spinning the media for votes only True News reported that the city's economic melt down and the lack of state funding for the MTA would make the mayor's plan for free crosstown buses impossible. Today's Answer by the mayor Keep waiting for that free crosstown bus: Bloomy *** Bloomberg Calls for Free Crosstown Buses - City Room Blog (NYT) * Mayor Bloomberg mulls making snail-like crosstown buses free (DN) * BLOOMBERG: FREE CROSSTOWN BUS SERVICE FOR ALL (NYP) Artz's Triangulation Lobbyist consultant George Artz is very comfortable representing three sides at once. Artz's has a lifelong relationship with Ed Koch who Doesn't Appreciate John Liu's Snubbing of Mayor Bloomberg yesterday. Artz who said on NY1 last night that he represented Liu was analysing why Liu missed the tradition unity photo op with the mayor the day a's fter the election McCall Back to the Liu Future? The NYT reported on August 23, 2002 that the just appointed head of Comptroller John Liu Elect Transition team as State Comptroller allowed pay to play Accountants and law firms Gave to Carl McCall After Getting State Contract "Law firms have given Mr. McCall nearly $200,000 in campaign donations. In the Cendant case, Mr. McCall did not interfere when the courts awarded the firms $262 million in legal fees (from the pension fund) -- by one calculation, $10,000 an hour." Carl McCall is also under investigation by the the AG in the pension scandal is to be named to head John Liu transition team. No stranger to Play to Play McCall firm Convent Capital was subpoenaed in May of this year, because he accepted a money manager fee and was unlicensed by the SEC. McCall received $48,221 for assisting Steinberg Asset Management in 2005 which received 25 million in pension funds from State Comptroller Hevesi Political Correctness Reporting Only USA Today broke through the political correctness and reported Fort Hood suspect a war critic (USA Today) the NYT reported Suspect Was ‘Mortified’ About Deployment to War *** The Daily News reported Fort Hood killer Nidal Malik Hasan opposed wars, so why did he snap? Update Suspect Shouted "Allahu Akbar"? NYT Delays Until After the Election Now you tell us? Third-Term Blues Are Job Hazard in Mayor’s Office and Albany(NYT) Slush Fund Extortion Creates Order Christine Quinn sounds feisty, “I remain frustrated that so many Council votes are 48 to 3, or 50 to 1. If we’re all in agreement that frequently, are we really challenging ourselves on the issues?”Incumbency, Apathetic Public Makes Term Limits A Non Issue 24 out of 27 councilmembers who voted to extend term limits won reelection. Maria Baez lost to Fernando Cabrera, Kendall Stewart lost to Jumanne Williams, Alan Gerson lost to Margaret Chin, David Yassky lost for Comptroller and Miguel Martinez won't be the last councilmember to go to jail for dipping in the slush fund. Not showing up signals to those in power it is OK for them to ignore you 586,890 people voted for term limits, but only 557,059 voted to re-elect Michael Bloomerg SOS NYT Spins Nonsense Election Remakes City Council, and May Give It More Bite, Too

More Analysis on Mayor's Race 8 Reasons Bill Thompson Lost the NYC Mayoral Election *** Here's What Happened To Bloomberg *** Dinkins: 'No show' O hurt Thompson ***The man behind the NY GOP's gains *** Exclusive: Thompson has no regrets about failed mayoral bid *** Bloomberg holds out $850G olive branch to de Blasio for new office budget*** Bill Thompson: “While I can be angry about it, the mayor - he's the one who has to live with, you know, how negative his campaign was.” *** Thompson also spoke with NY1, saying he did the best he could, and that Bloomberg doesn't have a mandate *** Larry Littlefield bucks conventional wisdom. “More turnout, I believe, would also have meant a much greater Bloomberg victory.” *** “I am proud of my role as county leader,” says Vito Lopez *** Bill Thompson isn't bitter and hasn't ruled out taking another crack at the mayor's office in 2013 *** Gabe Pressman thinks it's time to revisit the issue of morality in politics *** Mayor’s Math Would Devalue His Victory *** New York's Bloomberg spent big, for small return (LA Times)