Why You Should Change Your NY State Party Affiliation Already
Yes, you. You right there. Maybe you hate politics. Maybe you hate the Democrats. But I am here to ask you, a person who leans at least vaguely left, to consider the strategy of the next few years of state electoral politics and register yourself as a NY State Democrat. (You can print the form at that link, or pick one up at the library or post office.) Why? Read on.
First, some fun facts: NY State allows for closed primaries. This means that political parties do not have to let anyone vote who isn’t registered in their party, and that the party gets to decide how long you have to be registered before you can vote. And that lead time is very long - in order to be able to vote in the 2018 primary as a Democrat, your change of affiliation needs to be received by October 13th, 2017.
So why care? Well, folks, in most of NYC, the Democratic primary is the de facto election - the candidate that wins that race is the one that wins. In the state at large, the Democratic race is still the closest thing most of us get to a real choice of candidates; the people reading this are not going to be considering the Republican ticket.
2018 is going to have some big races: governor, a federal senator, federal representatives, state assemblymembers, and state senators. If you live in NYC and not in Staten Island or very-south Brooklyn, your federal representative, state assemblymember, and state senator will be a Democrat. So if you want to weigh in on the people who will actually represent you, this is your moment, and PS: you do.
Say what you will about the stupidity of electoral politics generally: on a local level, this actually has a concrete impact on your life. Minimum wage? Controlled by the state (even if you don’t have a minimum wage job, it’ll affect you too; minimum wage applies upward pressure on other wages close to the minimum wage.) Rent stabilization? Controlled by the state. Healthcare for all? Controlled by the state. Weed legalization? Downstate, we live in a pretty liberal wonderland; even if everyone is close to the same, you can still see real differences in candidates’ relationships to developers, the police, labor rights, taxation, weed legalization, and other issues on what I suppose is best discussed as the liberal-to-progressive spectrum.
So yes, it is the master’s tools. No, it won’t dismantle the master’s house. But for those of you who want that house to be livable for as many people as possible while we’re waiting for it to come down, these elections do in fact matter. And to participate, you have to be a Democrat.
You can change your party registration by printing and mailing this form, or get a postage-paid form at any library, post office, or most public benefit locations. Get it done in the next few weeks!
