Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Participates In Tele Town Hall

June 8, 2017

Moderator: Hi. A live telephone town hall with Mayor Bill de Blasio on electoral reform in Albany to make voting more accessible for New Yorkers is starting now. We would like for you to join the conversation where we will be discussing legislation on early voting, automatic voter registration, and electronic poll books, among other measures that will make voting more accessible. Mayor de Blasio will be taking your questions live during with call. To join the call, just stay on the line now. If you get disconnected, please call 646-693-4665. Please stay on the line now, and you will join the event as soon as it starts. Thank you.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Millions of people are not even a part of the process, it will change the outcomes. So, look. You go down the list. Registration is too hard. Absentee voting is too hard. We have, in too many cases, long lines at poll sites. We have primaries bring held on a host of different days. All of these things inhibit voter participation. They're all undermining the democratic process. So the facts are staggering. There's 2 million people in New York State who are eligible to vote and are unregistered, and over a million of them live in New York City. That's a stunning level of disenfranchisement that none of us should accept. And when it comes to overall electoral process and where we rank in terms of the openness and the ease of elections, New York State ranks 41st among the states in this country, in terms of what happened with our turnout in the last election as an indication of how hard it is to register and vote here. So this is the status quo that has to change.

I really want to thank the Assembly. They've done the right thing here. They've passed a very aggressive package that makes absentee voting easier, allows you to register online easily, creates electronic voting rolls so that you don't have all of the challenges and logistics around paper books with voter rolls. This would really modernize the process. The bill would also consolidate the primary days, so we could focus a lot more energy on fewer election days. And it allows early voting. This is the thing that so many states have. It's been a huge success, getting people to participate around the country. It takes away, obviously, a lot of the problem on Election Day as we know it, because you much have much shorter lines when as much as half the electorate has voted before Election Day. So, the Assembly bill is fantastic. It gives a full seven days of early voting. That's really, really a big step forward.

So now what we need is for the State Senate to act. The Assembly's done the right thing. It all comes down to the State Senate. So what I'm asking everyone on this line is to call the State Senate, talk to your State Senate member or their office, tell them how important it is that New York City and New York State finally benefit from actual election reform and enter the 21st century. The number for the State Senate is 518-455-2800. 518-455-2800. Really need your help to make this change. We're going to have to put on real pressure. Again, it's been decades that we have been really behind the 8-ball with arcane voting laws. It's time. There's more and more pressure now for a more open system. We need to use that pressure right now, so these next two weeks are decisive.

Finally, I want to say is – you heard a big rally coming up in Albany this coming Tuesday, June 13, from 11:30 to 3 p.m. at the Capitol. Folks are coming from all over the state to push for election reform. We need everyone to be a part of that rally. Get on the phone to your senator. We need to create momentum now to get this done. So I want to thank everyone who is a part of this call. And now we're going to open up the call for questions, comments, for me, for my colleagues from the city government who are here, and also for our elected representatives and Susan Lerner. Any comments and questions you have, we welcome them now.

Moderator: Excellent. And as a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press 0. Our first question comes from Jeff. Jeff, please ask your question.

Question: Hello. Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, and everyone else working on this important subject. I really appreciate as a voter, as a citizen, I appreciate the effort that's being made on this, and the question I have is: why is there no online voter registration? I talk to people who are really interested in getting engaged, but they just find the process too hard. So what's it gonna take to get online registration?

Mayor: Jeff, that's a great question. We should have it. I want to see if Brian Kavanagh, who's really one of the great experts in the Assembly on this, can give you a little bit of that history because it makes no sense, given the technology today, that we don't have online registration. Again, I think it's been part of a purposeful effort to keep a lot of people from voting. And I think it's been a very, very unfortunate thing that this has existed for so long. Brian, why don't you speak to that?

Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh: Yeah. So the good news is, we have a bill that would address this by creating online registration, full online registration. There has been an interpretation of current law that says that you can't register without a physical signature. And in only very limited circumstances is an electronic signature that might be stored in some electronic system and added to an application acceptable. So there's a bill carried by Assembly member Mike Cusick, who's the chair of the election law committee and has really shown great leadership on these issues, that has now passed the Assembly and is waiting in the Senate to get done. And if you're particularly concerned about that, and you take the mayor's call to call the Senate, then you should mention that that's one of the things that we all agree is very important to get done.

Moderator: Great. Our next question comes from Matt. Matt, please ask your question.

Question: Thank you. I'd like to hear what the mayor plans to do to address the difficulties New Yorkers face when they try to go to the polls to vote in large-turnout elections. As you've stated, the majority of states have early voting, but New York doesn't. And the majority of states have electronic poll books, but New York doesn't. But what can the city do to make the voting process less of a headache? Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much. I really appreciate that question. And so I empathize because I believe there's such energy for election reform at this moment that we have to, over these next couple weeks, try and achieve it because it would be one of the number one ways to reduce the lines at our poll sites. But to your specific question about what we can do, my administration has offered the Board of Elections a grant of $20 million to specifically address the thing that they do have control over, which is the technology they use and the training of the poll workers. And I've been very explicit that the Board of Elections is not fully in the 21st century when it comes to how they manage elections. They've got to update and streamline their approach. Of course, whenever you say that, people say, "We need more resources." So we're actually offering them the resources. There's $20 million parked in the city budget waiting to be activated, if the Board of Elections will vote for these internal reforms and mandate better use of technology and better training of the poll workers. That, to me, is the thing that would cause the biggest breakthrough that we control.

If we could pair that together with the early voting, and also the electronic voter rolls, that combination would change the whole dynamic, and make voting much, much easier.

Moderator: As a reminder, you're on the phone – live tele town hall with Mayor Bill de Blasio on electoral reform. If you'd like to ask a question, please press 0. Our next question comes from Alex.

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for your advocacy for voting reform in the city and on these state issues. So my question is: why do these reforms, which most states have made, seem to get so little traction in Albany, in particular in the State Senate?

Mayor: Look, I'm gonna struggle here to be non-partisan in my answer. I think there's something about the history of this state this is particularly troubling when it comes to this matter because the number of states that have early voting is extraordinary. And I used to have it memorized. Susan Lerner or Brian Kavanagh, do you have that handy? Oh wait. I'm being told 30?

Henry Berger, Special Counsel to the Mayor: 38.

Mayor: 38. Okay. Thank you. 38 states in this country have early voting. By definition, that means big states and small states, that means every region of the country, that means red states and blue states. So something's wrong in New York State. Let's be really blunt about it. Something's wrong in our state. And it is about our political history. And we have to address it. We have to break through. Neither party is entirely innocent here, to say the least. So I think it is a little bit because we have been presumed to be a progressive state that the pressure did not build, internally or externally, for us to address this issue the way it did in some other places. I think it's been a huge mistake that all of us who want to see progressive change have not focused more on trying to break through. I think this is now a time where we get a chance to really break through and create a lot of noise and energy around this.

I appreciate the question because there really is no logic as to how on earth this didn't happen previously. But I think the presidential election really brought up crucial issues about voter participation and how we continue to strengthen our democracy. And obviously the results of the election have gotten more and more people energized to be involved. So I hope we can all tap into that energy now and direct that towards Albany, and particularly towards the State Senate, to have our breakthrough moment now.

Moderator: As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press 0. Our next question comes from Loland. Please ask your question. Loland? Are you there?

Question: Hello? Yes? Yes I am. I'm a dual citizen living in Canada. I'm in Ontario now. I wondered whether or not I was actually eligible to vote on this particular issue?

Mayor: So when you say vote on this issue, again, the vote we're talking about is gonna happen in the State Senate. But I happen to have an expert here with me, my special counsel, Henry Burger. So the question of can dual citizens vote in our elections? Henry Berger?

Berger: The answer is yes. As long as you are a US citizen and a resident of the state of New York, you can register to vote and vote in New York.

Mayor: There we go.

Moderator: All right. Our next question comes from Mike from Rockaway's. Mike, please ask your question.

Question: Yes, Mr. Mayor. With these proposed voter reforms, what safeguards are gonna be implemented that it doesn't become too easy to vote? In the sense that it's too easy to be corrupted, manipulated, whatever? Okay? And also, I have a second question, probably somewhat unrelated: why, on July 4th, can't City Hall and other public structures be lit up red, white, and blue to commemorate our great nation?

Mayor: Well, Mike, I appreciate both questions, and I think it's a really good idea about the public structures, so I'll look into – I don't know what the history on that is, but we'll look into that one right away. On the question about how we make sure there's integrity in voting ... I appreciate that question a lot. I'm gonna start and then, I suspect Susan or Brian or Latrice will have something to add.

The bottom line, from my point of view, is we have seen ... Again, 38 states go to early voting. We've seen same-day registration in a number of places, and yet what we find consistently, study after study, there's almost no voter fraud in this country. And that includes a lot of places that, like New York, do not require you to show an ID up front. We have found the consistency has been really, really striking in how voter fraud has not been a problem. What's a much bigger problem is 2 million people who could be voting, not voting. I never take lightly any question about the integrity of elections, but I think when you compare that problem, which we've seen limited challenges with, to the huge, huge problem of people not registering and not voting, I think it's quite clear where we have to put our energy. But Susan or Brian or Latrice, do you want to add on that?

Susan Lerner: Sure. So, this Susan Lerner from Common Cause and Easy Elections. The thing that we can do to ensure the security of our elections is modernize them with electronic poll books, with automatic voter registration. You have clean, accurate voter rolls. And you ensure that the people who are eligible to vote get to vote. The people who aren't eligible to vote don't have to worry about it because it's an automatic registration program. And so we've seen, with increased modernization, much better security, much cleaner voter rolls, and a higher level of comfort that our elections are being run the way they should be.

Assemblymember Kavanagh: It's Brian Kavanagh. I would just add that we have been paying quite a bit of attention to this issue of the security of our elections. There have been, obviously, some newer concerns related to cybersecurity, people breaching the actual electoral system. I know the state board and the city board did meet with officials from federal Homeland Security and police departments and officials in the state to make sure that they were doing everything they could to ensure the integrity of those systems.

And the other really basic feature of our system in New York that helps is that everybody, at the end of the day, casts a ballot on a piece of paper, on a paper ballot that is stored physically at the poll site. So we have an ability to check and verify the results of the elections by having both parties and the candidates and everybody having access to that to do recounts and audits of that paper. There are some states where the votes are taking place entirely on digital systems, and at the end of the day the machine reports a total and there's no paper trail or ability to audit that result. So we have paid attention to these issues, and we will continue to pay attention to these issues. None of the reforms that we're talking about today increase the concern or jeopardize the security of our elections, but we are watching that issue very closely.

Assemblymember Latrice Walker: Bill, hi. This is Latrice. And just to piggy back off of what you just said, Brian, one of the pieces of the reform legislation involves automatic voter registration, and particularly there is an opt-out clause as opposed to an opt-in. So you're automatically registered to vote, unless you make an affirmative marking, which expresses your interest not to be registered. So if you have gone that far to not want to be registered and not be engaged in the electoral process, I don't know what the likelihood is that you'll show up at a poll site expecting to vote on any particular day. So at least, going back to what Susan mentioned, is that reforms, when passed, we limit the opportunities the perception of fraud to take place in our process. So we look forward to their successful passage as soon as possible.

Moderator: Great. Our next question comes from Tamika. Tamika, please ask your question. Tamika, are you there? All right. We'll go to our next question. Paulette from Manhattan. Paulette, please ask your question.

Question: Is there some way I can vote at home? I'm 93 years old. I have voted every election, all my life, except for four years when I was away in Europe. I would like to be able to vote at home because it gets more and more difficult. You changed the venue. Instead of being a block away, now it's three or four blocks away, and that's gonna get to be more and more of a problem for me.

Mayor: Paulette, first of all, thank you for being such an engaged citizen. That's a very impressive track record of voting. And we do want to make it easier on people every way we can. Again, my special counsel, Henry Berger, will talk about how we can help you on that.

Berger: A person who is unable to get to the polls because of age or disability or illness can vote by absentee ballot. And if they want to request an absentee ballot, they can call 866-VOTE-NYC. That's 866-VOTE-NYC. And they can request an absentee ballot, and the application will be sent to you. So you can fill it out at home, send it back, and get your ballot.

Moderator: Okay. Our next question comes from David. David, please ask your question. David, are you there? All right. Our next question comes from Darrell. Darrell, please ask your question.

Question: Hi, Mayor de Blasio. I would like to know when will it be possible to get rid of the voting machines? And the schools? Because most of the time, when people are trying to vote in the morning, we have to wait for the custodians to come in to open up the schools for the people to vote. And I find that insane for people to have to wait in line to vote ... To get up at 5 o'clock in the morning to vote, only to wait to vote by 9 o'clock, and the schools are still not open. So what's going to be the outcome of that?

Mayor: Yeah. I think this whole reform idea really speaks to the point you're making because, obviously, we will, under any vision, still have an Election Day where people can vote in person. And the schools do make sense as a location for that. But we need to change two big things. The first is we need the bill passed that the Assembly has approved because that will allow for early voting and that will just greatly reduce the number of people that show up on Election Day. That'll reduce lines. That will simplify the process. Again, I just want to remind everyone: if you agree with that election reform legislation passed by the Assembly that we're strongly promoting here today, call your State Senator. That number, again: 518-455-2800. And there's a rally this coming Tuesday, June 13th, in Albany. 11:30 to 3 p.m. at the Capitol building. We need as many people to participate in that as possible.

But Darrell, the other thing is the reform package that we've offered to the Board of Elections. Again, we've offered them $20 million if they will agree to important reforms, including more training for poll workers. We think that will improve the operations at the poll sites as well. You're right, sometimes there's a problem with the person who's supposed to be responsible for opening the site, like the custodian. We're going to work to address those. But that's pretty rare in the scheme of things. The bigger problems have been around the poll workers' need for greater training, and that is part of the reform package that we are offering to the Board of Elections, if they will just agree to key reforms.

Moderator: Our next question comes from James from Queens. James, please ask your question.

Question: Hi, Mayor de Blasio. Thank you. I'm James Hong. I am a co-director at a non-profit organization called The MinKwon Center, and we actually lead a civic engagement coalition called APA VOICE. Thank you for taking the lead on these reform issues, and thank you to the other elected officials and advocates, like Common Cause, doing this work. Us and other organizations doing work in the Asian American community have been very concerned since the Shelby decision, which [inaudible 00:22:36] the Voting Rights Act of 1965. We know that small things can have an outsized impact on those who are limited English proficient or new voters, like we have in our community. Asian Americans lag in all aspects of civic engagement, from citizenship, voter registration, party enrollment, and turnout in non-presidential years. So we agree we need to do everything to get rid of barriers and logistical obstacles for voting. There's two reforms that I wanted to ask you about and ask if you were in support of them, which were: automatic voter registration, and same-day registration.

Mayor: Yeah, same-day registration I'm 100 percent supportive of. It is not in the Assembly package. I think it has to be passed, and that's something we need to work on immediately after getting this reform package passed. But on the second one, when you say automatic registration, I'm gonna make sure I'm understanding the term. And let me ask ... Henry Berger's gonna speak to it, too. Go ahead.

Berger: In both Oregon and Alaska, you are registered automatically when you deal with state agencies, or when you are eligible for a check in Alaska from their government. California has enacted that law, and just last week Illinois enacted it. So I don't know why we're so far behind, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Yeah. Well, you've got a good point, Henry Berger. So yes, absolutely having received that helpful definition, yes. I think any interaction with a government agency that provides an opportunity for registration should be taken full advantage of. And Latrice, I know you've been focused on this issue, and we want to make sure this becomes the law and the operating reality in New York State.

Assemblymember Walker: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate that. And that's a great question. And one of the things that we can utilize in order to make that happen is some of the tools that you mentioned, including folks contacting their State Senators, encouraging them to pass this important piece of legislation. And also showing up at the rallies, whether they're at City Hall, or up here in Albany, so we're on it.

Bill de Blasio: All right. Excellent. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our next question comes from Celeste. Please ask your question.

Question: Hello, everyone.

Mayor: Hello, Celeste.

Question: Okay. Hi. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yes. Absolutely.

Question: Okay. Great. Now they talked about retraining the poll workers, but the Board of Elections is what trains us. And why aren't they getting retrained? And also the mayor gave the Board of Elections $20 million. The people that come in to vote ... Sometimes those machines don't work, like the ballot marking device, the BMD for short, or the scanners. Sometimes they break down. It's a constant with them. How come those resources aren't used to fix the machines or at least make the ballot marking device a universal language? Because I know some sites don't have enough interpreters, or the interpreters are only assigned to where a heavy amount of voters are at. Now say, for example, that this past election in Harlem, we had few Chinese and Korean, and there was no interpreters for them. And that's where the ballot marking device would have helped them.

Mayor: Okay. I hear you, Celeste. Celeste, let me try and jump in here. I think there's several different issues at once. I think we believe, fundamentally ... First of all, we'd like to reduce the burden on Election Day by having early voting. But second, the offer we made, the $20 million offer to the Board of Elections, would allow for a lot more training and better use of technology by our existing poll workers. We think that'd make a huge difference.

You're right to say there are other factors that need to be addressed, like translation, for example. So, Henry Berger, do you want to speak to that?

Berger: All right. The federal law only requires translators in a small number of languages in a small number of districts: Spanish and Chinese and Korean. And we have actually started looking at that to see how we can supplement the requirements of the law to provide additional translators in additional languages. But part of this $20 million, Mr. Mayor, was to do a management study so we could see where there are problems on an ongoing basis with the management of the board to try to get it to work more efficiently and more promptly when dealing with problems that arise on Election Day.

Mayor: And to the point that Celeste was making on the way the ballots are marked and the scanner machines, can you speak to that?

Berger: In each poll site there's a ballot marking device for people who may have difficulties filling out the paper ballots that we now have. If there are problems with those, we should know about them. I haven't heard this before, but it's something we should certainly look at.

Moderator:  Our next call comes from Jeannette. Jeannette, please ask your question.

Question: Hello, everyone. I'm also a poll worker. We don't need the training, sir. We had the training. I've been a poll worker for seven years. I could work every single one of your machines, number one. Number two is you have to do better when the person moves. The frustration is when they move and they send you the postcard, and tell you where to go to vote, they come to the polls, their name's not in the book. They're angry. Some of them had been there six months, nine months, their name isn't in the book. That's the frustration. That's where all your voters go because they do [inaudible] that form.

Mayor: Jeannette, first of all, I have no doubt listening to your voice that you listened carefully in the training and that you are focused and effective. I think a lot of us have had experiences directly that prove to us that there are some poll workers who need more training, and particularly training in the use of the technology. So I don't think you're wrong to say you don't need it, necessarily, but other people I think do. I think you're absolutely right on the point about the moving of addresses and all has created tremendous confusion and unnecessary confusion. So that's part of the change in how the Board of Elections does its work that we want to encourage through the study and the money that we're gonna put in. But I also know that Brian Kavanagh – one of the pieces of legislation in the package is about automatically transferring registrations when people move. Brian, can you speak to that?

Assemblymember Kavanagh: Yeah. Right now, if you move – some moves are transferred automatically if the Board of Elections is notified. But we have a bill that would ensure that whenever the board is notified, even if the person is moving from the Bronx to Yonkers, or from somewhere in Nassau County to Brooklyn or Queens, that when the board gets notice of that, they automatically transfer the registration to the person's new address and their new polling site so that when the person comes to the point of the election ... Their poll site, they can vote. In addition, the online registration bill that we have would also allow people to update their registration online. They'd be able to transfer their address and also check to make sure that that transfer's occurred before they're ready to go vote. So we do think that these things would really reduce the number of people who are showing up and not finding their names in the book.

Moderator: Our next question comes from Jackie. Jackie, please ask your question.

Question: Hi. Good evening. Thank you all so much for doing this town hall for such an important issue. My question is getting to civic engagement generally in the city. And I was wondering ... I know that there are some young people who've been lobbying in Albany to have the voting age for the state lowered to 17 from 18, and to do some other things, I think, to engage young people: distributing ballots, voter registration forms in high schools, and things like that. And I was wondering, just in terms of what we can do here in the city because it seems to be difficult to get things through the State Senate, is there any possibility of doing an equivalent movement for city elections to lower the voting age? I've read and heard a few times, now, that there's some evidence that shows when you engage people at a young age, they tend to stay engaged and become regular voters. Especially in light of the number that you mentioned earlier about there being 1 million unregistered voters just here in the city, I was just wondering if that's a possibility? And if it has any momentum? Thanks so much.

Mayor: That's a very good question, Jackie. I have to tell you, I've never figured out this issue personally, meaning I was a high school student government type and activist, and my kids, Chiara and Dante, are very aware of the world around them. And I certainly could see an argument for lowering the age. But I haven't gotten there yet in terms of having thought about all the issues and coming to a conclusion. That bring said, three points: One, the fact that we've got a million New York City residents 18 and older who are eligible and not registered, that's where the core of the problem is. If we were engaging that group, that's what's really gonna fundamentally reinvigorate our democracy.

The second point would be: there's nothing that would stop us from connecting 16 and 17 year olds in terms of civic engagement, preparing them to register and vote, and already feel a sense of ownership. I think that's something more and more is happening in our schools that we need to deepen because they certainly can be involved in all other aspects of civic engagement that really make a difference. And I've done a lot of town hall meetings around the city on a lot of issues. I've been really impressed at how many high school students have been coming and being involved and asking questions.

The last thing is that there is a piece in this Assembly reform package that would allow folks to pre-register in the age range that you are talking about. Henry, do you want ... Brian, do you want to speak to that? Brian, that bill, I think, is Mike Cusick's bill?

Assemblymember Kavanagh: Yeah. There are actually two bills that relate to this. One is this bill by Mike Cusick, which would allow 17 year olds to actually vote in a presidential primary in a year if they will be 18 and be able to participate in the general election. So, last year, if you were gonna turn 18 by November 6th, you could have voted in the New York primary in April to choose the candidates that will be on ballot in the general election.

The second thing is we have this idea of pre-registration. This would allow 16 and 17 year olds to basically do everything necessary to register, and that registration would then be pending until their 18th birthday, at which point it would become automatically valid. The board would just check to make sure the information is still current and register the person. That is a bill, actually, that is still pending, has passed the Assembly before, and is still pending. And that's important, partly because the first time people have contact with a lot of the agencies that register voters, like the DMV, is often before their 18th birthday. Whereas, the year they turn 18, they're often looking at maybe moving away to college, or taking a job, or something else that might be distracting them from participating. But 16 and 17 year olds are still engaged in our schools and in many other places where they might have the opportunity to get registered. And again, a number of states have done that and seen increases in participation among people when they're 18 and 19 as a result of having pre-registered when they're 16 and 17.

Mayor: Henry?

Berger: Thank you. In addition, under the law, 17 year olds can work as poll workers, with the permission of their parents. And they can sign up by going to pollworker.nyc, or calling 866-NYC-VOTE to get an application. 17 year olds can be poll workers, even though they can't vote, but it's a great way to get them involved in the process.

Lerner: And this is Susan Lerner. I just wanted to say that we have teamed up with Rock the Vote, the national organization, that Common Cause New York ... For a project that we're calling Generation Vote, where we are looking to register and to engage in mobilizing young voters around our upcoming city election. So stay tuned for more information about that in the future.

Moderator: Excellent. And we'll be taking two final calls. Our second to last comes from Amanda from Brooklyn. Amanda, please ask your question.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for taking the time to speak on this issue. I think it's really important, and it's something that affects all New Yorkers. My question is: what more is it gonna take to persuade our lawmakers in Albany that New Yorkers care about this issue? And that this is important to our state and to our country? Three quarters of the country already have some of the reforms that we're asking for. Can you shed some light on what might be some persuasive arguments to those lawmakers who are still hesitant to pass these reforms?

Mayor: Amanda, I appreciate the passion in your question. I feel the exact same. It's just not acceptable, and it's really a stain on New York State that this has not happened already. Look, how do you move lawmakers? Pressure! The fact that so many are people with what happened in the November 8th election, they do not want to see anything like that happen again. They know we need more and more people to participate, that a lot of what happened on November 8th was people either stayed home who could've voted, or folks who were excluded for a variety of reasons, including laws that made it hard for them to vote. So that wave of energy sweeping the city and the state and the nation right now needs to be directed at this question. If you get election reform right, a whole lot of other change is possible.

So my answer would be – anyone who feels this issue should get on the phone. Call their state senator. 518-455-2800. By the way, it's not just, obviously, the votes of State Senators in New York City we need, although there are some State Senators in New York City who still need to be persuaded. So those calls count for a lot. Emails, letters, everything. Telling friends in other parts of the state that this matters so they're putting pressure on their state senators as well because again, these are reforms that would affect the whole state. I said there's a million New York City residents eligible and not registered. There's another million in the rest of the state. So this is something that anyone you know anywhere in New York State should care about and should be pushing their State Senator. And the rally on Tuesday, June 13, at the State Capitol. 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The fact is if the energy mounts on this issue, it could become very hard for the Senate to ignore. The Assembly has done the right thing. They've passed a comprehensive package. It's done. It's been passed. It's sitting there waiting for the companion action by the State Senate. So I think we have to create accountability for the State Senate. They need to know their constituents are watching and that it's time for these reforms.

Moderator: Our last question comes from Eric from Manhattan. Eric, please ask your question.

Question: Yes. Thank you, Mayor de Blasio, for organizing this call. I was wondering what your thoughts are about the change of party deadline being October of the year before an election. That seems pretty early. What are your thoughts on reforming that?

Mayor: Yeah. I agree with you. I'm gonna tell you that I do believe in primaries within a political party where members of the party are the people who get the votes on their own party's nominee. That's not true, as you know, in a lot of places in the country. That kind of system doesn't exist, or it's only non-partisan elections, or it's a very, very loose situation in some states where you can change registration, literally, from one day to the next. I don't believe in leaving behind the notion of partisan primaries. But I do believe, to your question, that the current requirements are ridiculous, and they're exclusionary, and they don't reflect human reality. There are so many people who, first of all, because they've moved or something else in their life ... They want to make a change in their registration in a reasonable timeframe and they're excluded now, again, by the same kind of law that's meant to inhibit participation.

I think it's fine to have some kind of requirement of a time period, but this is far, far too long. I think something along the lines of a few months or something would make a lot more sense than a year or more. And the other fact is that a lot of people are trying to sort out their views and their values in what is an ever-changing political environment. So I think as a result of November 8th, there were people who clearly had different views of their party affiliations and might have wanted to act on those. And they deserve the right to do that in a reasonable timeframe. So definitely the current requirement is too long and too onerous. It should be greatly reduced. Also, for the overall good of the system, same-day registration would speak to this as well because, especially for folks in an ever more mobile society – show up in a place and are registering for the first time, we want participation. We don't want those unfair burdens that get in the way of participation. Same-day registration would be really helpful in an ever more transient society.

So I appreciate the question. Listen, everyone, thank you so much. We've had thousands of people on this call. There's a really high level of interest here. And I think it, again, has everything to do with the growing level of civic participation we've seen since Election Day. We need to turn that into action right now. We have a real chance to create intense pressure for change. I want to again thank Susan Lerner and everyone at Common Cause. I want to think my colleagues and Assembly member Brian Kavanagh and Assembly member Latrice Walker. They have been outstanding advocates for electoral reform.

We need everyone to get off this call and tell everyone you know to call their state senator at 518-455-2800. Seriously, everyone. Send out an email blast to your friends. Get on the phone to people you know who care. And again, in every part of the state it matters. And please promote this rally this coming Tuesday, June 13th. 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m at the State Capitol. We need the members of the Senate to feel this gathering momentum for making our elections truly open and inclusive. And if we do that, we literally have the potential of getting millions of more people to participate, and that will change the trajectory of our city and state for the long term.

So thank you to everyone who's been a part of this all. And we're gonna keep you updated over these next two weeks or three weeks of the legislative session. But please, everyone follow through on this call and help us make a big difference here.

Thanks so much, everyone.

###