Citizens Union: Today’s Special Election Results In Nearly One-third Of All Sitting State Legislators Having Been First Elected In A Special Election

Today’s Special Election for five state legislative seats has increased the number of legislators first elected in a special election to 30 percent – nearly a third of all state legislative seats – according to updated research by Citizens Union of the City of New York.

Special elections in New York for state legislature are filled through low-turnout special elections, after the Republican and Democratic parties nominate their candidates in closed-door proceedings rather than through a competitive primary election by the voters.  Citizens Union remains troubled by the increasing prevalence of legislators first elected through special elections, and calls upon the State Legislature and Governor to enact reforms to allow voters greater choice of candidates through a nonpartisan special election, as is used in filling New York City Council vacancies, or by holding a primary election to allow voters to select the candidates that will be on the ballot for the special election.   Legislation to achieve these goals is sponsored by reform-minded Assemblymembers Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) and Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan).

“This finding that nearly a third of all sitting legislators were first elected to their positions by closed party insider dealing is not a judgment on the individual legislators themselves, but rather a sad indictment on our local democracy that forbids voters from choosing their party nominees,” said Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union.

Citizens Union Policy and Research Manager Rachael Fauss who compiled the updated findings added, “New Yorkers deserve a better and more democratic process that gives voters greater choice in nominating the candidates who will represent them, which is why we support legislation sponsored by Assemblymembers Jeffries and Rosenthal.  We need to create a fairer election system when future vacancies occur.”

Citizens Union has tracked the number of legislators elected in the closed special election process since 2007, and most recently released a report in June 2011, Circumventing Democracy: The Flawed Process for Filling Vacancies for Elected Office in New York, which found that 26 percent of legislators sitting at that time had first been elected in a special election.  The June report predicted that this number would increase to 30 percent, which we now see after today’s special election.  Below is a table of the current number of legislators who were first elected in a special election. See also Citizens Union’s full list of legislators and the type of election in which they first assumed office.

 

	Legislators First Elected in a Special Election, as of March 2012	Legislators First Elected in a Special Election, as of June 2011
State Legislature	30% (63 of 150)	26% (56 of 212)
Assembly	35% (53 of 150)	31% (46 of 150)
Senate	16% (10 of 62)	16% (10 of 62)
Source: Citizens Union of the City of New York

The recent increase of 4 percent of legislators first elected in a special election is due to changes since the September 2011 and March 2012 special elections.  Twelve seats have been filled in special elections since our June report, as noted in theattached listing of legislators. However, 5 of those 12 seats were already counted in our previous report because they were vacated by legislators who had themselves been elected in a special election. Therefore, only 7 seats have been added to our tally.

Citizens Union has also tracked legislative turnover in New York State, noting the reasons why legislators have left office, first in its 2009 report, Examining Turnover in the New York State Legislature, and subsequently in a February 2011 update.  Of the current members of the legislature who were first elected in a special election, the initial reasons for their predecessors’ vacancies are below.  Please note that the tally below is separate than that provided in our turnover reports, which note all of the vacancies in each year – whether or not they were created in a special election – and is inclusive only of the reasons why current legislators’ predecessors left office.  See the attached full list of the circumstances under which current legislators took office for more details.

Reasons for Vacancies Creating Special Elections: Circumstances for Current Legislators
	Senate	Assembly	Total	Percentage
Predecessor left for Another Public Office	4	38	42	66.7%
Predecessor Retired	2	7	9	14.3%
Predecessor Died in Office	2	5	7	11.1%
Predecessor Resigned due to Corruption	2	3	5	7.9%
TOTAL	10	53	63	100%
Source: Citizens Union of the City of New York, March 2012

In light of the troubling number of legislators first elected in the closed special election process, Citizens Union calls upon the State Legislature and Governor to enact reforms to open up the process of filling vacancies.  Legislation reforming the process has been proposed in the legislature, presenting two options for opening the process for voters:

• A.1369/S.26 (Jeffries/Squadron) – replaces the current process for filling state legislative vacancies with a non-partisan special election, allowing all candidates to independently petition to be on the special election ballot, and eliminating the closed-door party nomination process.
• A.1770 (Rosenthal) – provides for a special primary election to allow voters to select the candidates that will appear on the ballot for the special general election, eliminating the closed-door party nomination process, while allowing independent candidates to petition on to the special general election ballot.

“The current special election process is flawed and often undemocratic,” said Assemblyman Jeffries. “Our legislation will bring increased fairness to the current political process and put electoral decisions directly in the hands of the public where they belong.”

“Democracy works best when people get to choose their representatives in direct elections,” said Assemblymember Rosenthal (D/WF, Manhattan).  “Taken together with redistricting and campaign finance reform, reforming the way in which special elections in this State are conducted would help restore the people’s confidence in government.  To fill legislative vacancies, my bill, A.1770, would open up the process with a special party primary that would be followed by a general election.The current system prevents all but the most connected and wealthiest players from having an impact and limits voter participation in a given district; my bill will change the system to ensure greater access to all New Yorkers.”

Citizens Union supports either of the approaches in legislation sponsored by Assemblymember Jeffries and Rosenthal to reform the special election process and calls on the Governor and Legislature to work together to provide a solution that enables more voters to participate in the process of filling vacancies for state legislative office.  Citizens Union also supports reforms to the process of filling statewide vacancies. More information on these reforms can be found in our June 2011 report on vacancies.