Benjamin Franklin, Unity clubs advocate for transparent voting process

Transparency, voter education and people’s votes being counted; these are all things I’ve advocated for years and that the Ben Franklin Club has been advocating for decades.”

Eric Dinowitz, city councilman, District 11

Members of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club recently signed a petition to change the election process for what they believe is the better.

The proposal was sent to the city’s board of elections and addressed directly to board executive director Michael Ryan. 

The proposal lays out four recommendations that would change ballot layouts, the delivery of election results and pre-election communication to ensure voters understand the process and know their polling locations.

Eric Dinowitz, councilman for district 11 and member of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club, was among seven who signed the proposal.

The proposed ballot change follows a change already made last year. According to Dinowitz, the Bronx Democratic Party wanted to build a more inclusive ballot by changing the language from indicating one male and one female district leader are chosen to stating the two top voted individuals of two different genders are chosen as leaders. 

But, due in part to the change in language, the ballot became confusing for voters, obscuring that one candidate of each gender would still be chosen, rather than the two top voted individuals regardless of  gender.

Dinowitz said he’s been convinced by the voting data that, throughout the entirety of the Bronx, people voted for two female candidates since that’s who received the majority of the votes. Unfortunately, voting for two women only meant voters were throwing their second vote away because they did not choose a male district-leader candidate, as required. 

That, greater Riverdale’s city councilman said, is counterproductive.

“Transparency, voter education, and people’s votes being counted; these are all things I’ve advocated for years and that the Ben Franklin Club has been advocating for decades,” Dinowitz said. 

In its proposal to the board of elections, the Ben Franklin Club requested the ballot layout be reorganized to ensure clarity for voters on how to accurately vote and understanding how winners are selected. Other proposed changes include clearly stating the winners of the election are those that win the most votes in each gender category as well as spelling out a candidate’s gender with the full word as opposed to printing the first letter. 

“The reporting for this recent election resulted in significant voter confusion, as the two candidates who received the most votes were both of the same gender and therefore not both ultimate victors,” the proposal reads.

Ramdat Singh, a member of the Unity Democratic Club and a former district leader, agreed the ballot structure needs changing. 

“I do think this year’s primary ballot, the way the layout was done, was confusing,” Singh said. “I did have people who were seasoned voters look at the ballot and they were confused.” 

Singh said confusion stemmed from a cramped ballot and the tiny print on it. He said a layout change is needed, especially given the older population in the district’s northwest.

The Ben Franklin Club proposal also requested the board of elections website be updated to reflect unofficial results in a manner that clarifies only one winner from each gender can win district-leader races. 

Dinowitz said he wants to see the candidate with the most votes to have a clearly written indication they are the unofficial winner to make distinct that both winners cannot be of the same gender. 

The Ben Franklin Club proposal also requested sample ballots to be distributed through the mail so voters can familiarize themselves prior to the election. 

Finally, the club asked the board of elections to better notify voters about changes to their polling locations.

Abigail Martin, recently re-elected female leader for the 81st Assembly District and member of the Unity Democratic Club, said reworking this year’s ballot is necessary in order eliminate voter confusion. Specifically, she said the manner in which the results were posted to the city’s website was confusing and did not specify who the actual winners were. 

In addition to the changes the Ben Franklin Club proposed, Martin said she would include one more. 

“I would add that there should be more information about judicial candidates prior to elections,” she said. 

The board of elections releases a voter guide but according to Martin it lacks a thorough description of judicial candidates, making it difficult for voters to truly know for whom they are voting and what positions they take. She said being well informed is part of having voting rights and, as such, sharing detailed information on judicial candidates should be commonplace. 

Singh, Martin’s fellow Unity Club member, agrees.

“I really hope the board of elections changes it to make it more easy to understand for folks,” he said. “We need to make voting easy for people, not make it a process that’s confusing or difficult.” 

Dinowitz, who said the proposed changes are essential for voters to be fully informed, was joined by Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, district leader Ben Jackson, state committee members Michael Heller and Johanna Edmondson, Benjamin Franklin Club president Virginia Krompinger and Emily Hausman in signing the proposal to the board of elections.