Elections Professional and Activist
Onondaga County Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny said there’s a stark difference in turnout between odd years, which feature local elections, and even years, with state and federal races on the ballot.
“In Onondaga County, we average, in even years, 63% turnout,” Czarny said. “In local years, odd years, it’s 32% turnout, so it’s almost double.”
On my Issue One Faces of Democracy trip I had the opportunity to do a video interview along with a few other election officials with the Washington Post. This short video talks about how we are dealing with election denialism and threats to our profession.
I participated in a panel discussing my trip to Washington last week with Issue One’s Faces of Democracy. I appeared with Cisco Aguilar (Nevada Secretary of State, Democrat) and Tonya Wichman (Board of Elections, Defiance County, OH, Republican). Enjoy:
Link to the even on Issue One website here:
https://issueone.org/events/virtual-panel-with-faces-of-democracy-election-officials/
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#earlyvoting for the June 27th primary starts this weekend. You can register to vote and vote by affidavit on the same day only on Saturday June 17, 2023. Go to onvote.net to get all information to vote in this June 27th primary.
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“Commissioner Czarny and his fellow Democrat elections commissioners officially remain neutral on the change, but he sees benefits. Specifically, the turnout.
On average, he says Onondaga County has a 63% turnout in even years and 32% in odd years.
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Commissioner Czarny and his fellow Democrat elections commissioners officially remain neutral on the change, but he sees benefits. Specifically, the turnout.
On average, he says Onondaga County has a 63% turnout in even years and 32% in odd years.”
Czarny said he’s convinced the changes in the other election years will ultimately be good for democracy.
“There’s going to be higher participation and many more voters choosing their representatives,” Czarny said. “That’s always a good thing.”
Yesterday the New York State Legislature passed a bill that would move many local elections from odd years to even year elections. The Democratic Caucus of Elections Commissioners looked at this bill and we decided not to support and remain neutral. We had concerns that we gave to legislative leaders. Some of these concerns were addressed with the current version of this bill while other concerns still are yet to be resolved.
The New York State Legislature has the right to pass this bill and it will be the job of Elections Commissioners to follow the law and help enact this bill along with all other laws passed by the legislature. This bill in effect will have no effect on elections until 2026. We have time to meet the technological and logistical demands this will have on our offices. The legislature also has more time to address the issue of staffing and commissioner terms and employment status that were not addressed by the Assembly this session (though all were passed by the Senate).
I find the rhetoric from GOP elected officials both locally and throughout NY State to be over the top and hypocritical. The same politicians have blocked Early Voting, engaged in gerrymandering their counties, throttled Board of Election budgets, attacked vote by mail during the pandemic, as well as opposed every attempt to modernize our election system. They have routinely come down on the side of less voters having input on their government. That is their true motivation despite their rhetoric.
The alleged cost savings of this bill is not something I agree with. In most areas of New York State, we will still have elections every year. No matter the number of candidates on the ballot election inspectors, and polling places will need to be staffed. Voter registration updates will have to continue year-round. However, it is undeniably true that turnout is higher in eve. ears where voter turnout is routinely 50-70% where turnout in odd years throughout new York State is 30-40%. More citizens voting on their representation is objectively healthy for our government.
The most crucial point to make on this legislation is that it gives us time to resolve the technological issues, educate the public, and prepare. I am confident not only in the elections commissioners ability to manage these issues but the ability of the public to understand this change and make individual decisions with their ballot. It will be the driving challenge as we adjust to these changes over the next 7 years, but it is accomplishable, and New York will rise to this occasion as we have every election reform given to us since 2019.
Threats against election commissioners and workers have soared amid a divided electorate. Czarny shares an example that came up at one meeting.
“We had some commissioners that were afraid to go to their nephew’s baseball games because people in their community were targeting them just for the crime of counting the votes, like they should,” he relayed.
“This is providing clarification that will now be followed,” said Dustin Czarny, chair of the Democratic Caucus of the New York State Elections Commissioner’s Association. He said the proposals bring in line best practices for the rare instances where issues arise with a ballot. Czarny added that he believes the legislation is intended to build public trust in the voting system and is “trying to prevent another lawsuit.”
I appeared with Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows on Maine TV to talk about our trip to Washington on behalf of Issue One this week.
“There are real people that are running our elections. Everyday people that are coming together, they’re civil servants and they’re trying to find a way to do a difficult job with little pay and little resources,” said Czarny.”
Dustin M. Czarny