Increasing access to voting:State legislatures across the country are stripping away voting rights, including cementing barriers to the ballot box into law. New York had a critical opportunity to expand voting access through constitutional amendments in 2021, but the Democratic Party’s failure to proactively educate voters about these amendments all but solidified their failure to pass. The New York Democratic Party spent no money supporting these amendments while the Republican Party blanketed the airwaves with attack ads. As a party, we should be doing everything we can to increase access to the ballot box. As your State Committee representatives, we’ll work to ensure policies like automatic and same-day voter registration are finally enacted into law.
Leveling the playing field and building the bench: It’s critical that we solidify the future of the Democratic Party. But running for office is still only accessible to the powerful, wealthy, and privileged who can afford consultants to guide them through the needlessly complex process of seeking office in New York. We believe primaries are a healthy part of our democracy that create stronger candidates to run against Republicans. As your State Committee members, we’ll fight to proactively build and train our party’s bench, not consolidate power among a select few who cherry-pick their successor. We can level the playing field by working with other reform-minded State Committee members to create training materials and guides to running for office in New York, accessible to everyone running in Democratic primaries. When the playing field is level, elections will be decided by voters in each district, not donors.
Walking the “ethics” walk: If we expect our elected officials to act with integrity and dignity, then our state party must lead by example. As your State Committee representatives, we’ll work with our colleagues to implement an Independent Ethics Committee to investigate any actions that do not reflect the morals and values of our party. More so,transparency and accountability are critical to building and maintaining a party with integrity. We’ll demand transparency of our state party’s spending, and push for new rules mandating an affirmative vote on any campaign spending. We’ll also work to solidify conflicts-of-interest rules, so that no representative may use their elected position for their own personal benefit.
Building a platform for all New Yorkers: Publicly sharing how our party intends to support New Yorkers fosters trust, support, and buy-in. But we can’t let our platform solely live on paper — we must make sure our legislators across New York work to advance our agenda. As State Committee representatives, we’ll work to elect folks who embody our morals and values. We’ll also work with policymakers in developing and enacting community-centered proposals.