WFP threatens to sue over potential switch to nonpartisan ‘jungle’ primary

The New York Working Families Party is considering suing the charter revision commission convened by New York City Mayor Eric Adams if it puts a proposal to switch to a nonpartisan “jungle” primary system on the November general election ballot.

Nothing is finalized yet, but as the commission nears the end of its review of the city’s governing document known as the city charter, public attention – and controversy – over the potential ballot proposal has grown. At the heart of the matter is the future of the city’s current “closed primary” system, which requires voters to be registered with a specific political party to vote in the corresponding primary. (For instance, only registered Democrats are allowed to vote in the Democratic primary.) Whoever wins each party’s primary then runs in the general election, which is open to all voters, regardless of party affiliation.

If the commission chooses to put a question on the ballot to pivot to a nonpartisan primary system and that ballot proposal is then approved by voters, then all candidates would run in a single primary regardless of their party affiliation, and all voters would be eligible to vote in the primary. Using ranked-choice voting, whichever two candidates received the most votes – again, regardless of their political party – would move on to the general election. Party affiliation would remain on the ballot, but if two Democrats won the most votes in the primary, then two Democrats would move on to the general election. And so on and so forth. 

It’s a complex issue, and the commission itself recognizes as much. Last week, the commission put forward four likely ballot proposals related to the city’s land use process and one proposal to move city elections to even-numbered election years, members held off on including a potential sixth question pertaining to the switch to a top-two jungle primary system, stating that members are “continuing to consider” whether to move forward with it. Much of the commission’s final public hearing, which was held Monday night in Harlem, centered on the issue of nonpartisan primaries, with many people testified both for and against it.

Broadly speaking, supporters of the change argue that open primaries encourage electoral competition, boost young voter participation and could drive up the city’s notoriously low turnout, allowing the roughly 1.1 million unaffiliated voters – about 21% of the city’s registered voting population – to participate. Opponents argue that the proposed switch will undermine political parties, increase the role of money in politics and dilute the influence of unions and grassroots groups. They also say that the proposal has not been subject to a sufficiently thorough review process at this point in time.

The Working Families Party is particularly concerned that the commission’s current proposal would violate the state’s system of fusion voting, which allows more than one political party to nominate the same candidate and for said candidate to appear on the ballot multiple times. Fusion voting allows the left-leaning progressive party to nominate the winner of the Democratic primary for its general election ballot line, essentially “fusing” a minority political party with a major one in favor of the same candidate. While the commission could ultimately put forward a different version of an open primary system – one that preserves fusion voting – the current formulation being considered does not appear to allow this and thus would violate the state constitution, according to WFP co-executive director Jasmine Gripper. 

“People do rely on the party labels as a distinction of values. They look for the Democratic person. They look for the Working Families name first on the ballot,” Gripper told City & State. “The commission hasn’t made it clear how they’re going to denote party affiliation and if someone’s name can appear twice which is currently allowed.” 

A host of people spoke against opening up the city’s primaries during Monday night’s hearing, including Gripper, city Comptroller Brad Lander, Republican City Council Members Joann Ariola and Frank Morano (who later clarified that he was generally in favor of nonpartisan elections, but not the top-two system being considered by the commission), 32BJ SEIU Deputy Political Director Kyron Banks and Michael Piccirillo of the New York City District Council of Carpenters.

Those in favor of the moving to some form of open primaries included independent mayoral candidate Jim Walden, League of Women Voters co-president Kai Rosenthal, and Adams’ Deputy Mayor for Communications Fabien Levy (who emphasized that he was speaking in a personal capacity and that his stance was in no way tied to the recent Democratic mayoral primary). “If we are a city that believes in inclusiveness, we have to talk the talk and walk the walk, and the only way that we can get there is with open primary competitiveness,” Walden argued while speaking in favor of the change.

City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said that while he supported the idea in theory, he wanted more time for research to be done to ensure the change wouldn’t unintentionally negate the success of the city’s ranked-choice voting system implemented in 2021. 

Switching to a nonpartisan primary system in the city wouldn’t be without precedent. A number of states, including California and Washington, currently have different versions of an open primary system. Several past city charter revision commissions from 2003, 2010 and 2024 also looked at reforming the city’s closed primary system, but none ultimately moved forward. While four of the five ballot initiatives proposed by the last charter revision commission convened by Adams were approved by voters in 2024, there’s no guarantee that’ll be the case this time around. Voters rejected proposals to implement nonpartisan primaries in six states last year. 

The debate comes in wake of democratic socialist Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani’s resounding victory in the Democratic mayoral primary, adding fuel to some of the opposition to shifting to a nonpartisan jungle primary system. Mamdani’s win was driven in part by his success expanding the city’s electorate to include more young voters, South Asians and Muslims. With more than 1 million people casting ballots last month, it was the highest turnout in a mayoral primary since 1989. The fact that the commission was initially convened by Adams, who is currently running as an independent candidate in the general election, has prompted skepticism about the underlying motivations for the proposed shift to open primaries. 

“A deeply unpopular mayor who is struggling with his re-election appointing a charter commission to change election law feels suspicious,” Gripper told City & State. “People are a little distrusting of a pretty obviously outgoing mayor attempting to change the law before they leave.” 

A final public meeting will be held July 21, when the commission will vote on final ballot language to advance proposals.