New York City Board of Elections

Last updated
Board of Elections in the City of New York (NYCBOE)
New York City Board of Elections Seal.png
Agency overview
Jurisdiction New York City
Headquarters32 Broadway
New York, New York
Employees920 (2020) [1]
Parent agency New York State Board of Elections
Key document
Website vote.nyc

The Board of Elections in the City of New York (NYCBOE) conducts New York elections within New York City, United States. It is an administrative body of ten Commissioners, two from each borough upon recommendation by both political parties and then appointed by the New York City Council for a term of four years.

Contents

The NYCBOE has a longstanding history of nepotism and dysfunction. [2] [3] The structure of the NYCBOE is enshrined in the New York state constitution. [2] One of New York state's last sources of patronage jobs, [4] the NYCBOE is run in a bipartisan manner, as each job position held by a Democrat must have a duplicated position for a Republican. [2] The staff in the organization are political appointees rather than professional staff. [2]

History and criticism

The Board has come under fire for errors and mismanagement in a number of elections: [5]

Role and responsibilities

The Board of Elections in the City of New York, as provided under Election Law § 3-200, is responsible for conducting elections, including primary, special and general elections; handling voter registration and the maintenance of voter records; handling candidate petitions, documents, and campaign finance disclosures; and conducting voter outreach and education. [14]

Organization and structure

The Board is made up of ten commissioners, two from each of the five boroughs of New York City, appointed by the City Council for four-year terms. One member from each borough is appointed by each of the two parties whose candidates got the most votes in the last gubernatorial election. Since the top two candidates in the last election represented the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party get five representatives each on the Board of Elections. The ten Commissioners meet once a week. [15] Day-to-day operations of the BOE are led by an appointed Executive Director and Deputy Executive Director, who oversee a "similar bipartisan arrangement of over 351 deputies, clerks and other personnel ensures that no one party controls the Board of Elections." [15]

The Board of Elections is one of New York state's last sources of traditional patronage jobs. [4] City & State notes, "The Board of Elections is unique in that it is one of the city's few truly bipartisan administrative bodies, with five commissioners from each party overseeing its operations. While members consider this structure the best way to run fair and balanced elections, others contend that it engenders gridlock, as commissioners from both parties are not necessarily working toward a common interest but instead trying to ensure that the elections play out in their party's favor." [8] For example, former state Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, who formerly was an elections clerk in the Bronx, "said that he witnessed firsthand the hyperpartisan nature of the board when two deputy clerks in Brooklyn and Staten Island gave conflicting instructions to their staff and refused to work together, creating confusion on the ground level" that inhibited the ability of the mayor and City Council to trust the Board to properly use funding. [8]

Efforts to reform the BOE have failed, in part because modifying its state structure would require changes to the state Constitution. [4] The mayor has no power over the BOE. [5] Mayor Michael Bloomberg was a vocal critic of the Board, [4] [16] which was the subject of complaints over its administration of elections; Bloomberg called for the Board to become a mayoral agency rather than an independent body. [16]

List of commissioners

Current commissioners [17]
BoroughCommissionerCommissioner
ManhattanJenny Low (D)Frederic M. Umane (R)
The BronxJodi Morales (D)Gino A. Marmorato (R)
BrooklynRodney L. Pepe-Souvenir (D) (President)Simon Shamoun (R) (Secretary)
QueensJose Miguel Araujo (D)Keith Sullivan (R)
Staten IslandPatricia Anne Taylor (D)Michael J. Coppotelli (R)

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Fiscal Year 2020 New York City Government Workforce Profile Report". New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services . Retrieved February 13, 2023– via shinyapp.io.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rosenthal, Brian M.; Rothfeld, Michael (2020-10-26). "Inside Decades of Nepotism and Bungling at the N.Y.C. Elections Board". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  3. 1 2 Katie Glueck (June 29, 2021). "New York Mayor's Race in Chaos After Elections Board Counts 135,000 Test Ballots". New York Times. the Board of Elections, which has long been plagued by dysfunction and nepotism
  4. 1 2 3 4 Anne Barnard, Andy Newman & Dana Rubinstein, Many Try to Reform N.Y.C. Election Board. None Succeed., New York Times (June 30, 2021).
  5. 1 2 3 4 Dana Rubinstein & Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Nearly 100,000 Defective Absentee Ballots Sent to N.Y.C. Voter, New York Times (September 29, 2020): The problems in New York are yet another blemish for the New York City Board of Elections, which is run by a board of Democrats and Republicans, and has a long history of mismanaging elections.
  6. ↑ "'Byzantine' Vote-Counting Process In NYC Draws Criticism". Associated Press. March 31, 2012.
  7. 1 2 3 Chen, David W. (July 11, 2012). "New York City Elections Board Chafes at Criticism, but Seeks Improvements". New York Times.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Nick Powell (November 19, 2012). "New York City Board of Elections: Unlucky or Incompetent?". Archived from the original on 2013-05-18.
  9. 1 2 3 Vivian Yee (April 23, 2016). "Routine Voter Purge Is Cited in Brooklyn Election Trouble". New York Times.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Vivian Yee (January 12, 2017). "Justice Dept. Seeks to Join Suit Over 117,000 Purged Brooklyn Voters". New York Times.
  11. 1 2 City Board of Elections Admits It Broke the Law, Accepts Reforms, WNYC News (October 24, 2017).
  12. ↑ A.G. Schneiderman Announces Major Settlement With NYC Board Of Elections Over Voter Registration Purges, New York State Attorney General's Office (November 1, 2017).
  13. ↑ Lines Stretch for Blocks as New Yorkers Turn Out for Early Voting, New York Times (October 24, 2020).
  14. ↑ Board of Elections of the City of New York 2010 Annual Report.
  15. 1 2 Annual Report 2017, New York City Board of Elections.
  16. 1 2 Azi Paybarah, An accidental revolution at the Board of Elections, Politico (February 8, 2013).
  17. ↑ "Commissioners & Management | NYC Board of Elections". vote.nyc. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
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