NY Guyanese Urge to Vote in Tuesday’s Primary

Jun 27, 2023 Letters

Dear Editor,

This Tuesday June 26 is Primary Election Day in New York to choose a candidate for each political party to be its standard bearer in New York City Council general elections to be held the first Tuesday in November. Guyanese, Trinis, South Asians and other New Yorkers are urged to come out and vote. Polls open at 06:00 hours (6:00am) and close at 21:00 hours (9:00pm). There is also early voting at selected sites. Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is the system determining the winners. RCV allows voters to rank candidates or options—in a sequence from first, second, third, and onwards—on their ballots.

Primary election selects the candidate or nominee for a council seat for a party. The candidates who filed nominations on the ballot must meet basic conditions including acquiring hundreds of signatures of voters in the district. Once qualified, the nominees within each party are placed on the ballot. The candidate with a majority of votes through a preference rated system, with a second or third preference voting, even if it is not the most votes in the first round of voting, gets the nomination. The nominee of each party and independents face off in the November ballot.

Council elections are held every four years for a four-year term. The last City Council election was in 2021. This year, there is a special mid-term off-cycle council election. In 2002, New York City voters passed a referendum requiring special midterm council elections in a term every twenty years. The law took effect in 2003, midway through a term that usually ends the following January. A mid-term council off-cycle election is due this year with the term ending in January. All 51 seats are up for grabs. Not many New Yorkers are aware of the 2002 law and even fewer Guyanese or West Indians voters across ethnicities are familiar with the law or that there is an off-cycle election this year. Early voting began last week and so far only 10,000 in Queens The borough has over one million voters. A candidate may well win next Tuesday’s council primary seat with a thousand votes.

A few Guyanese and other Caribbean people are on the ballot for seats all over the city. Some are challenged established incumbents in Queens including in the greater Little Guyana (Richmond Hill) neighbourhood that is represented by the Speaker of the Council Adrienne Adams (no relationship with the Mayor Eric Adams). The Mayor’s term is not affected by this off cycle election. His term expires in 2025 when he is up for re-election. He is expected to win re-election.

Besides those seeking nomination for a seat in the primary, several Guyanese are involved in the election – volunteering or fundraising and/ or engaged in grassroots campaigning of their favored candidate. Several Guyanese are engaged in phone banking, door knocking, and literature distribution on the streets and house to house.

Several Guyanese donated funds or attended fundraisers for NYC Council Speaker and Council Member Adrienne Adams as well as Rusat Ramgopal who is challenging Speaker Adrienne.

Ashook Ramsaran, Guyanese born president of the Indian Diaspora Council (IDC), long time US citizen residing in Queens, appeals to Guyanese to partake in the process. He states: “Voting is the optimum form of civic engagement and political participation, providing a rewarding sense of citizenship with enormous benefits to their communities such as funding for schools and other community needs based on population and voting participation. Voting is a privilege, an entrenched constitutional right for which many have struggled and sacrificed for that right to choose his/her representative in elected office. While some areas of the country are struggling with voting rights, voting in NYC is free of those encumbrances. The right to vote is a unique privilege as a citizen and a meaningful example to families and younger generations, especially among immigrant families. Those who vote can have legitimate reasons to complain afterwards when policies may not be favorable to one’s preferences. So we urge every registered voter to vote for the candidates of your choice”.

Community leaders have urged Guyanese, other Caribbean as well as Asian Indians and other voters to come out on Tuesday and cast ballots for their favored candidate in the council election.

Yours Truly,

Vishnu Bisram

Guyanese, NYC Council Speaker, Tuesday’s Primary, Vishnu Bisram, Vote

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NY Guyanese Urge to Vote in Tuesday’s Primary

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