Tomorrow, Sept. 15, is the primary for local elections in New York City. I have lived in NYC for three years now, and this will be my first time voting in a NYC municipal election.
According to the Board of Elections, there will be Democratic Party nominations for all of the following:
- Mayor
- City Comptroller
- Public Advocate
- Member of City Council
- District Attorney
- Judge of the Civil Court - District
- Female District Leader
- Male District Leader
- Delegate to the Judicial Convention
- Alternate Delegate to the Judicial Convention
- County Committee
Although quite informed about Federal politics, I would consider myself somewhat uninformed about local politics and the races, although I have been doing some basic research lately. For instance, I don't even understand what the last six positions are all about - consulting the "Primary Election Voter Guide" that I received in the mail didn't help, as only the top four positions are discussed. I see that there are only primaries in certain districts, but the districts do not correspond to the city council districts - are these State Assembly districts? So basically I have little clue what the last set up races are all about, who the candidates are, who to vote for, or if they will even show up on my ballot. Googling has so far turned up little to nothing.
In addition to my confusion over the lesser positions, I would also welcome comments on the major races. Unfortunately I did not get around to watching the comptroller and public advocate debates. Essentially I would like to vote for the most progressive candidate in each race, with the obvious caveat that there is no single definition of 'progressive'. Also, as a matter of principle, I refuse to vote for any city councilor who undemocratically voted to overturn the term limits that voters had put in place. By my count that eliminates Melinda Katz and David Yassky, both Comptroller candidates. Thus, my basic thoughts were:
Mayor: Bill Thompson doesn't excite me, and I have little doubt that he will lose to Bloomberg, but I guess I have no other option as Tony Avella seems even worse. I guess I could be open to voting for a spoiler, but neither of those candidates (Roland Rogers and Jimmy McMillan) grabs my attention.
Comptroller: I will likely be voting for John Liu. This was my initial leaning after perusing the candidates' websites, and I feel better that I now see he has been endorsed by the Working Families Party. At any rate, I refuse to vote for Bloomberg or any councilor who supported his overturn of term limits, so that removes Yassky and Katz from the picture. The little I have seen from David Weprin doesn't inspire - when his number one issue during a major economic recession is "cutting waste", that immediately makes me wary.
District Attorney: Richard Aborn will be getting my vote
Public Advocate: Honestly, I don't know about this one. I am fine with all four major candidates. From what I have read, I guess I would currently lean towards Norman Siegel, but strangely when I try to access his website, my work firewall is blocking it under the category of 'Sex'? wtf? Any thoughts on this race?
City Council: There is no primary in my district. At any rate, I am reasonably happy with what I know about my councilor, Jessica Lappin, so I would likely vote her back if given the option