Dustin M. Czarny

NYSECA Democratic Caucus Top Legislative Priorities for the remainder of the 2023 Session

(Today I sent a letter to Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie as they prepare for the final month of the NYS legislative session. For transparency’s sake I am posting it here. Read our full list of legislative priorities and get access to our Memorandums of Support here.)

Governor Kathy Hochul

Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins

Speaker Carl E. Heastie

NYS Capitol Building

State St. and Washington Ave.

Albany, NY 12224

May 8, 2023

RE: NYSECA Democratic Caucus supported legislation for the end of the legislative session.

Dear Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie,

Congratulations on surviving another budget season. I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the investments that you made in our Democracy through the New York State Budget. Your historic investments include over $20 million for the New York State Board of Elections ($18,841,000 for Operations and #5,408,000 for Enforcement), $19 million for County Board of Elections ($4,000,00 in Postage Reimbursement and $15,000,000 in Tech Upgrades), and $40 million for Public Campaign Finance Boards ($14,54800 in Operations and $25,000,000) in general funding. These investments will help us administer the 2023 elections and set us up for success in 2024. Thank you for showing New York’s strong commitment to our Democracy.

We have just a little over a month left in the 2023 legislative session and now our attention turns to desperately needed legislation that will also improve our Democracy. I have attached the Democratic Caucus of NYS Elections Commissioner Association Legislative priorities for 2023. We have also included a list of bills brought to us by members for our support. I want to draw attention to six different bills that are our top priorities. All six of our top priorities have bi-partisan backing of the NYS Elections Commissioner Association.

Top Priorities of the NYSECA Democratic Caucus

S644/A1258 Minimum Staffing Bill (Already Passed NY Senate)

This bill clarifies what a minimum staffing allocation is for the County Board of Elections. As we have added more responsibilities. New York has a vested interest in ensuring the reforms passed by the legislature can be conducted by the County Board of Elections. This bill will increase staffing to approximately 20 Boards of Elections as we prepare for the 2024 Presidential Elections. This staffing will ensure that Boards will not be overwhelmed by the added registration requirements that are coming online this year, such as 10-day constitutional minimum, automatic, and online voter registration. This bill will ensure that voters in all counties have the bare minimum level of service from their county boards of elections while also ensuring that counties have the proper staff for the increase in voter registration expected with online and automatic voter registration coming this year.

S611/A919 Mandate Full-Time Elections Commissioners Statewide (Already passed NY Senate)

We have a full-time political calendar in New York State. We have Village Elections in March and June, School Board Elections in May, Primary elections in June, Town Caucuses, Inspector Training and Judicial conventions during the summer, and of course the General Election in November. Sixteen counties outside New York City still have part time commissioners. We have a full-time calendar in New York State, we need full-time commissioners.

A4777 (Awaiting Senate Bill #) Move Commissioner terms to 4-year statewide.

We believe Elections Commissioners should be evaluated on the 4-year cycle of elections we have in New York. The Presidential and Gubernatorial election years are separated by two local years. Having a four-year cycle will allow election commissioners to navigate the challenges of each year before having to stand for re-appointment. It will also allow elections commissioners to make proper decisions based on Election Law, precedent, and proper equity in their Board decisions without having the shadow of a 2-year term hanging over their employment.

S5537A (Awaiting Assembly Bill #) Allowing Vote Centers on Election Day.

New York currently authorizes and encourages vote centers for Early Voting. This legislation will allow the county boards with the resources and desire to do so to use voting centers for primary and general election days. Counties wishing to participate will submit a plan to the NYS Board of Elections to ensure adequate staffing and equipment. This is a permissive bill and will allow counties ready to move to a vote center model permission to do so.

S2024/A4294 Mandating Non-student attendance day on Election Day and Primary Day

It has become increasingly hard for Boards of Elections to find HAVA acceptable buildings for use as polling places. Many schools in urban, suburban, and rural are the only acceptable buildings for voters to gather in. The COVID pandemic has exacerbated this problem, as traditional polling places such as churches and nursing homes have either closed or refused to be polling places. This is an artful way to ensure the public has adequate polling places and protect students without affecting instructional days.

S1014/A1259 Reducing threshold for the Mandatory Hand Count

It is the experience of our county boards that only the closest of races where voter intent on the ballot comes into play can result in a lead change. We believe allowing for alternative scans on races under .5% but over .25% is sufficient to determine the machine counts are correct. This will allow Boards of Elections to expend their limited resources on the races that are truly deserving of the hand count, those races that are .25% or less separating the vote leader and those trailing.

I have attached our support memos on all these bills to this email. I am available to meet with you and your staff about these priorities. I will be traveling to Albany May 16^th, 23, and 31^st if you would like to arrange in-person meetings. I can also be available for zoom and conference calls on other days. Thank you for all you have done for New York Voters. I look forward to collaborating with you in the close of the 2023 session as well as in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Dustin Czarny

Democratic Caucus Chair, NYSECA

The Weekly Wonk: The Village of Liverpool

Welcome back to #WeeklyWonk. Each weekend I publish an article on a subject relating to elections in Onondaga County and New York State. Often these articles will have detailed stats to consume but sometimes they will be a recap of a prominent issue or on relevant election law. I am turning my eye to the 2023 elections and the political subdivision having races. Today I investigate the Village of Liverpool, an emerging Democratic community in Onondaga County.

The Village of Liverpool sits in the Town of Salina in the northern suburbs of the City of Syracuse. This lake community is the home of Onondaga Lake Park and sits on the edge of Onondaga Lake. The makeup of Dewitt is 40% Democrat (687 Voters), 26% GOP (435 Voters), and 28% non-Enrolled (477 voters). Liverpool elects its leadership village wide in June elections. It is divided into two different election districts, ED 3 (West) and ED 4 (East). Ed 3 (991 voters 58%) is bigger than ED 4 (719 voters 42%).

Since 2012 The Village of Liverpool went from a solid GOP village to an emerging Democratic community. Democrats have gained 185 voters while the GOP lost 100 voters. The Non-enrolled has seen only a small gain of 42 voters. The Trump years was a driving factor in the increasing Democratic community in Liverpool, but it has continued after those years as well. The GOP has seen a small consistent decrease each year as their enrollment is not being replaced. The Non-enrolled gains, unlike other areas of Onondaga County, only have come recently but they did overtake the GOP finally in 2021.

The election districts of Liverpool are on either side of Oswego St. splitting the Village into two halves. ED 3 is the western more populous district. Democrats dominate this district 398 DEM to 259 GOP and 275 Non-enrolled. This gives Democrats an advantage of +14.03%. Democrats do even better in the eastern district of ED 4 with 289 DEM to 176 GOP and 275 Non-enrolled. That gives Democrats a partisan advantage of +15.72%.

Looking at the growth of voters since the last redistricting cycle we compare it with date from May 2012. The Village of Liverpool grew by 100 active voters. The growth comes solely in the Western ED 4 which gained all 100 voters. The eastern region of ED 3 has the same number of active voters as they did in 2012.

The Village of Liverpool Democratic advantage has grown by 17.10% since 2012, outpacing Onondaga County overall. Both EDS grew in Democratic advantage, but at different rates. The eastern ED 4 did not see any raw voter growth but did gain in Democratic advantage by +13.91%. The story of Liverpool’s Democratic switch though lies in the western ED 3. Not only was all the voter growth there, but Democratic advantage also grew by +19.75%. ED 3 was what gave Liverpool a GOP lead in 2012 and its complete 260 and voter growth is driving the Democratic voter rise in the village.

When we look at the comparative races, we see why Democrats run extremely well in the village. In 2019 Dan Kolinski for County Clerk garnered 52.91% of the vote, 5.18% ahead of his Onondaga County rate. President Biden in 2020 63.10% of the vote, 4.22% ahead of his Onondaga rate. In 2021 Anthony Brindisi for Supreme Court garnered 61.34% of the vote, 8.84% behind his GOP rate. In 2022 Governor Hochul garnered 63.29% of the vote, 9.51% ahead of her Onondaga County rate. These statistics are some of the most Partly due to inactivity and partly due to the odd timing of the June elections the Democrats have not run candidates on their line whole The GOP has consistently run candidates on their line. This means there are no local races to compare to.

In 2023 the Salina Town Democrats are running a full slate on the Democratic line in the Village of Liverpool. They held their first caucus in over 20 years and had a unanimous nomination for their candidates, Stacey Finney is running for Mayor and Melissa Cassidy and Rachel Ciotti are running for Village Board. Their election is June 20, 2023. You can follow the Salina Democrats here to follow their campaign: https://www.facebook.com/groups/214715395537.

That is, it for this week’s edition of the #WeeklyWonk. Next week I look at the other village having a June election, the village of North Syracuse. As always go to dustinczarny.com and subscribe to get all your content and election news updates. I run that website, along with these series of articles, as part of my voter education. I never take ad money or charge subscriptions paying for the site with my own personal funds. Subscribe here.

Memorandum of Support: S438/A928 Eliminating Faithless Electors

(As Chair of the Democratic Caucus of NYSECA I will from time to time issue Memorandums of Support on Election bills before the NYS Legislature. I am posting them on my website for lawmakers and the public to know our positions. You can see my caucus’ legislative priorities here as well as the Bi-Partisan Legislative agenda for NYSECA here. This bill is part of a list of bills that we were asked to consider by Assembly members or Senators to support. You can read that list here. If you agree with this bill consider contacting your local representative and asking them to support the bill.)

Memorandum of Support

Bill: S438/A928

Sponsor: Skoufis/Jacobsen

Summary: Relates to requiring electors to vote for the presidential and vice-presidential candidate who was nominated by the political party that nominated the presidential elector.

Justification: The NYS Election Commissioners Association Democratic Caucus supports S438/A928, which requires electors to vote for the presidential and vice-presidential candidate who were nominated by the political party that nominated the presidential elector.

The practice of faithless electors in the United States poses significant dangers to the integrity and stability of the electoral process. This undermines the fundamental principle of representative democracy, where the will of the people is supposed to be reflected in the outcome of the electoral process. Faithless electors can disrupt the outcome of a presidential election, leading to confusion, distrust, and legal challenges. It can also erode public confidence in the electoral system and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the entire election. Additionally, faithless electors can create a situation where the candidate who did not win the popular vote in a state ends up receiving its electoral votes, which goes against the concept of "one person, one vote." The potential for faithless electors to subvert the democratic will of the people and inject uncertainty into the electoral process poses significant dangers and undermines the fundamental principles of democracy.

The Democratic Caucus supports this bill. Passing this bill will strengthen the backbone of our bi-partisan election system in New York and we urge the legislature to pass this bill and the Governor to sign it as soon as possible.

Subscribe to dustinczarny.com for content and election news updates

Zoom with Czarny: Blake Carter for OCL 6th district

In this week’s Zoom with Czarny, I sit down with Blake Carter. Blake is a CNY native and is running for the Onondaga County Legislature District 6, which includes Skaneateles, Spafford, Marcellus and parts of Camillus. He is a long-time political activist and first-time candidate. Enjoy.

Learn more here: https://www.voteforblakecarter.com/

Subscribe to dustincarny.com for all content and election news updates

Stimulus money buys Ryan McMahon a promotional video fit for a campaign – Syracuse.com

“State election law does not prohibit using the power of incumbency to promote a candidate’s work. It’s a fine ethical line often judged by the public rather than any enforcer, said Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny, a Democrat.”

https://www.syracuse.com/news/2023/05/stimulus-money-buys-ryan-mcmahon-a-promotional-video-fit-for-a-campaign.html

Memorandum of Support: S371/A2633 Democracy Preservation Act

Memorandum of Support

Bill: S371/A2633

Sponsor: Gianaris/Walker

Summary: Enacts the democracy preservation act; prohibits contributions by foreign-influenced business entities; requires certification.

Justification: The NYS Election Commissioners Association Democratic Caucus supports S371/A2633, which bans ban political spending by foreign-influenced business entities in New York's state and local elections. Without adequate protections from federal or state law there is a significant risk of influence by foreign owned corporations in our electorate.

The influence of foreign money on an election can be detrimental to the democratic process of a country. When foreign entities are allowed to contribute money to political campaigns, they can sway the outcome of an election by favoring one candidate over another or promoting a particular agenda. This can lead to a loss of control over a country's political system and undermine the trust of the people in their elected officials. Additionally, foreign interference in an election can violate a country's sovereignty and compromise its national security. It is therefore essential to have strict regulations and enforcement mechanisms in place to prevent foreign money from influencing the outcome of elections and to ensure the integrity of the democratic process.

Commissioner in a Car: NYS Budget gifts to County Boards and Hearing wrap up.

This week’s Commissioner in a car I talk about the money in the NYS budget for county boards, the NYS Board of Elections, and the Public Campaign Finance Board. There is a good deal to celebrate. I also run down the results of the hearings on objections and court case that shaped our June primary and November general election ballot. Enjoy.

Subscribe to dustinczarny.com for all election news and content updates

Memorandum of Support: S594/A725 Standardizing Ballot order in NYS

Memorandum of Support

Bill: S5943/A725

Sponsor: Skoufis/Hunter

Summary: Modifies the order in which candidates appear on the ballot

Justification: The NYS Election Commissioners Association Democratic Caucus supports S5943/A725, which modifies the order in which candidates appear on the ballot. This bill requires that offices shall be listed on the ballot in descending order based on the size of the electorate and requires certain federal offices to be listed before state, county, or local offices. This will bring uniformity to ballot creation throughout New York State, giving a standard for county boards of elections to follow. It will also right place emphasis on the size of political subdivisions and state and federal offices that most voters are familiar with.

The Democratic Caucus supports this bill.  Passing this bill will strengthen the backbone of our bi-partisan election system in New York and we urge the legislature to pass this bill and the Governor to sign it as soon as possible.

Subscribe to dustinczarny.com for all content and election news updates

The Weekly Wonk: The Town of Dewitt

Welcome back to #WeeklyWonk. Each weekend I publish an article on a subject relating to elections in Onondaga County and New York State. Often these articles will have detailed stats to consume but sometimes they will be a recap of a prominent issue or on relevant election law. I am turning my eye to the 2023 elections and the political subdivision having races. Today I investigate the Town of Dewitt, the most Democratic Town in Onondaga County.

The Town of Dewitt sits on the Eastern suburbs of the City of Syracuse. Its long western border makes it the Town that shares the longest border with Syracuse. This in part leads to its overwhelmingly blue nature. The makeup of Dewitt is 40% Democrat (7,116 Voters), 25% GOP (4,333 Voters), and 29% non-Enrolled (5,113 voters). This enrollment is the most Democratic of anyplace outside the City of Syracuse. Dewitt elects all their representative’s town wide and not by wards. So, I have carved up Clay into 5 different regions, North 3,679 voters (21%), Center 3,591 voters (20%), West 3,582 voters (20%), South 3,331 voters (19%), and East 3,457 voters (20%).

In a new feature I am bringing to the #weeklywonk this year I am doing a heat map for each political subdivision. I will be looking at the current partisan makeup of each individual ED and heat mapping its partisan lean based on the advantage for the Democrats and GOP. Dewitt is so Democratic only 1 Ed, ED 12 has a GOP lean (between 5-10%). Four more eds, 1,8, 17, & 20, have a borderline (0-5%) Democratic Lean. Eds 4, 13, 15, & 19 have a slight (5-10%) Democratic lean. Eds 6, 7, 9, & 25 have moderate (10-15%) Democratic lean. Eds 10, 21 & 23 have strong (15-20%) Democratic lean. The largest collection of eds, 2, 3, 5, 14, 16, 18, 22 & 24 have overwhelming (+20%) Democratic lean. Theis the largest collection of Overwhelming Democratic eds outside the City of Syracuse.

Since 2009 The Town of Dewitt went from a Town with a Democratic lean to an overwhelmingly Democratic plurality. Democrats have gained 1,165 voters while the GOP lost 1,068 voters. The Non-enrolled has seen a large gain as well of 1,012 voters filling the void left by the GOP. This is the driving factor in the polarization of Dewitt. This is like other suburban towns but a little more exaggerated. Since 2020 though it is noticeable that Democrats have plateaued, losing a little. The GOP has also slowed its loss. The Non-enrolled though continues to gain. It will be worth looking at this town again after the 2024 election of we see any changes to this recent turn.

The regions are mostly reflective of the blue nature of the overall registration. The center region of Dewitt looks a great deal like a city ward with Democrats having a 31.63% Democratic advantage. This is followed by the western region that has a +19.43%. These two regions border the eastern borders of Syracuse which is some of the more Democratic in the county. This is what is leading to Dewitt’s overwhelming blue nature. The Eastern region which borders the other blue town of Manlius has a 13.77% Democratic advantage. All three of these regions the non-enrolled outnumber the GOP. The northern (+7.31% Dem advantage) and the Southern (+6.18% dem advantage) looks more like other suburban regions throughout Onondaga County.

Looking at the growth of voters since the last redistricting cycle we compare it with date from May 2012. The Town of Dewitt grew by 1,807 active voters. The biggest growth is in the western region which gained by 538 voters. The southern region which borders Lafayette and Pompey had the second highest growth of 410 voters. The Eastern region bordering Manlius is a close 3^rd at 344 voters. The Center region grew at a similar rate by 303 voters. The least growth has come in northern region with only 212 voters.

The Town of Dewitt Democratic advantage has grown by 11.10% since 2012, outpacing Onondaga County overall. In 2012 every region was Democratic; however, all regions grew in Democratic advantage over the last 10 years. The largest growth has been in the western region with Democrats gaining by 16.90%. The center region democratic advantage grew by 12.05%. The southern region Democratic advantage grew by 11.80%. The eastern region grew the least by just 9.68%. The Northern region grew by just 5.52%.

When we look at the comparative races, we see why Democrats are dominating just about every Town race and Democrats performed better in Dewitt than anywhere outside of Syracuse. In 2019 Dan Kolinski for County Clerk garnered 54.70% of the vote, 9.97% ahead of his Onondaga County rate. President Biden in 2020 64.86% of the vote, 5.98% ahead of his Onondaga rate. In 2021 Anthony Brindisi for Supreme Court garnered 59.50% of the vote, 8.76% behind his GOP rate. In 2022 Governor Hochul garnered 60,78% of the vote, 7.00% ahead of her Onondaga County rate. This has led the GOP to shy away from running in town wide races here and carve it up in County legislative races. In the last head-to-head local race was Town Justice in 2021, the Democrats won it by 16.14%.

In 2023 the Dewitt Town Democrats will look to fill candidates for Supervisor, Clerk, Town Justices, 3 Town Board members and Highway superintendent. The Town of Dewitt Democrats fill their candidates by caucus. The Caucus has not yet been scheduled but can be anytime between now and July 27, 2023. If you are interested in running for any of these offices or want to help the Clay Democrats contact their chairperson Linda Ervin at ervindewittdems@gmail.com.

That is, it for this week’s edition of the #WeeklyWonk. Next week I take a break from the Towns of Onondaga County and look at the village of Liverpool. They held their first Democratic caucus in 20 years last week and will be running a full slate of Democratic candidates in the June election. As always go to dustinczarny.com and subscribe to get all your content and election news updates. I run that website, along with these series of articles, as part of my voter education. I never take ad money or charge subscriptions paying for the site with my own personal funds. Subscribe here.

Two Syracuse council candidates, others tossed from primary ballot after petition challenges – Syracuse.com

Raquan Pride-Green and Hasahn Bloodworth were removed Friday from this year’s Democratic primary for Syracuse Common Council seats after their petitions were challenged.

The two commissioners for the Onondaga County Board of Elections agreed with challengers who claimed some of the people passing petitions and some of the people who signed them were not Democrats, Commissioner Dustin Czarny said.

https://www.syracuse.com/news/2023/04/two-syracuse-council-candidates-others-tossed-from-primary-ballot-after-petition-challenges.html