Voter Participation

One day, when I was in the State Assembly, I had an interesting conversation with another Assemblyman who represented Harlem.  “How many people voted in your District in the last election?” I asked.  He said, “about 10,000.”  I was astounded, for in the same election, 40,000 people had voted in my Assembly District here in Chautauqua County and the population represented in each District was roughly the same.

Out of curiosity, I checked on some voting numbers for 2018, and found similarities.  For example, in our Congressional District, in the general election, Tom Reed received about 130,000 votes and Tracy Mitrano 110,000 votes… a total of 240,000 for a participation rate of about 60% of the 400,000 active registered voters in the District.  By comparison, in the general election, the much-touted new Congresswoman from the Bronx & Queens, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, crushed her Republican opponent by a total of 110,000 to 20,000.  Yet, it was with a turn-out rate of only 44% out of 320,000 active registered voters in her District.

17,000 voters out of some 320,000 in that Primary District decided who the next Representative in Congress would be.

In the case of Cortez, the “real” election came a few months earlier in the Democratic Primary where she beat an incumbent Congressman, Joe Crowley, by a vote of 17,000 to 13,000.  (The Republican Party, in most of New York City, is not a significant political force so the ultimate election winner is usually determined in the Democratic Primary.)  When you think of it that way, 17,000 voters out of some 320,000 in that District (or about 5% of the total number of active registered voters) decided in the Democratic Primary who the next Representative in Congress would be.

That is an important fact to be considered before people become taken with the idea that Ms. Cortez is leading a “new wave” of progressive thought which is sweeping the country. My own view of the Cortez/Crowley race is that the Congressional District had become ethnically more Hispanic… and that was a major factor in determining the outcome of the Democratic Primary.

No one is alleging any wrong doing in the process, but it does illustrate how low participation rates can skew an election.  It also should provide some perspective that there was no “landslide” victory equating to a big public mandate.  Of course, there was no “landslide” either in the last Presidential election where Donald Trump lost the popular vote but won in the Electoral College… but that doesn’t mean that he can’t assert that there was.

We can hold our heads a bit high here in the Southern Tier where 240,000 people showed up.

But, back to voter participation: we can hold our heads a bit high here in the Southern Tier of New York where 240,000 people showed up in a contested general election to vote for a Member of Congress… a 60% participation rate of all active registered voters.  I wish that our voter participation rate was higher but, here in this Congressional District, we are still beating a lot of other places when it comes to exercising our right to vote.

Rolland Kidder

This commentary originally appeared in The Post-Journal

   

The State Budget

I doubt that many people have been keeping track of the various moves and shenanigans that have been going on in Albany relative to the state budget. Most citizens don’t care much unless it hits them directly in the pocket book. Yet, as an old-time observer of Albany budget-making, I found it especially interesting this year. After a lot of arm-twisting and compromise, the state legislature worked through the last day of the fiscal year (Sunday, the 31st of March) finally passing a budget for 2019-2020 on Monday, April Fool’s Day.

The Governor was more in charge than ever this year. Under a court ruling made several years ago, he can now put all kinds of legislative and social policy changes into his budget. So, this year the budget was a real “mish-mash” of legislative changes combined with spending and tax proposals.

For example, the budget has a provision for “congestion pricing” in New York City to discourage car traffic in Manhattan, but the measure was also designed to bring a lot of money into government coffers. If you travel by car below 60th Street, you are going to be charged a hefty fee of over $10 per day. The new revenue is supposed go toward fixing up the dilapidated subway and train system in the metro region. Some people from the region, including the Governor of New Jersey, are calling it a “rip-off,” but then people from New Jersey don’t get to vote in Albany.

The question is: Did Albany find a workable solution in the rush to get it into the state budget?

There is also a ban on plastic bags in the budget and some “window dressing” legislation aimed at trying to get more oversight of the money being spent on the state’s economic development programs. In my view, the issue of trying to reduce the use of plastics in our society is laudable. The question is: did Albany find a workable solution in the rush to get it into the state budget?

There was also a provision in the budget allowing the closure of 2-3 Upstate prisons. Local government officials are worried this will likely reduce good-paying jobs in the areas affected.

There were also some “social issue” decisions that got taken out of the budget. There had been hopes of a big windfall of new tax dollars from marijuana sales. Now, the legislature and Governor will take that up as an issue separate from the budget. That is probably a good idea because there are legitimate concerns over the impact of legalizing marijuana and how, if legalized, the State should properly regulate the sale and use of it.

There had been hopes downstate that more gambling casinos could be opened in New York City. That also got thrown out of the budget, one of the concerns being that a lot of the Upstate casinos (which were supposed to be the answer for Upstate growth and jobs) are already struggling to make a profit.

As is normally the case, the largest single budget item was for financial aid to School Districts. School Districts don’t know what their spending plan can be until they get “computer runs” based on the state aid formula. The “fail-safe” of having Republicans protect Upstate in this process is over because the GOP is now a weakened minority in both houses of the legislature.

You might not know what it is going to cost you until we get a little further down the road!

So once again the great State of New York has passed its budget to try and cover all of the public’s needs and desires. Just hang on to your wallet. You might not know what it is going to cost you until we get a little further down the road!


Rolland Kidder

This commentary was first published in The Post Journal

Emiliano Bar Qijin Xu