New York City’s local elections would benefit greatly from reform. The city has a budget larger than all but a handful of states and powers that profoundly shape the everyday lives of its residents, yet it suffers from low voter turnout, poor election administration, outsized special interest influence, and a city council elected largely through uncompetitive general elections.

This report describes New York City’s electoral system, including its recent introduction of ranked-choice voting (RCV) for local primary elections. It then turns to the shortcomings of the city’s system, including chronically declining voter participation in local races, a city Board of Elections rife with ineptitude and scandal, and New York State’s fully closed primaries, in which only voters registered in a particular political party may vote in that party’s elections.

To address these concerns, this report proposes a series of reforms for New York City’s electoral process. Some are long-overdue necessities, and others are long-shot overhauls. The underlying goal is to reinvigorate local democracy by encouraging broad participation, democratic deliberation, and robust political competition.