This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared in the Home Reporter and Spectator dated October 25, 2019
Beginning on Saturday, October 26th, for the first time in New York, you will be able to vote at a polling place before the first Tuesday in November. Early voting kicks off that day and runs for 9 consecutive days, including the next two weekends.
Vision care, property taxes, Mother Cabrini and Christopher Columbus may seem totally unrelated, but whenever we deal with any issue, we cannot pick and choose which aspects we want to recognize and simply ignore those that are not beneficial to us or our views. Or at least we can’t if we want to effectively address the challenges we all face together.
Depending on where you are in Southern Brooklyn, you may have an early voting polling site at a high school like Fort Hamilton, New Utrecht, FDR or James Madison or at the Coney Island YMCA. If you prefer, you can still vote on Election Day at your normal polling place.
Being that this year has less buzz electorally, the 2019 election is the perfect time to begin early voting, which the new state legislature passed as one of its first orders of business in January. You won’t find any of the biggest races on the ballot this year.
Following the special election this past February, you will again have the opportunity to vote for Public Advocate. You may be like me and also have a choice of two candidates for Civil Court Judge of Kings County, but there are two other judicial elections; in one race, a candidate is running unopposed, while the other instructs you to select five candidates from a list of five candidates. The five ballot proposals this year, covering a host of issues, may be the choices many voters find most interesting.
The results of 2016 moved many to do more than they had done before and we saw that newfound enthusiasm a year later in the 2017 election.
These races are obviously very important to the candidates whose names are on the ballot, but to average voters, 2019 is just a slow election year. And most welcome that.
The results of 2016 moved many to do more than they had done before and we saw that newfound enthusiasm a year later in the 2017 election. Mayor, comptroller, public advocate, borough presidents and all City Council seats were on the ballot, with the latter category garnering a lot of interest and energy locally.
People who often skipped voting committed to getting to the polls. Many who would regularly vote but keep that between their family and friends, knocked on the doors of neighbors they had never met to tell them about a candidate they believed in.
It occurred again in 2018, in local congressional and state legislature races, as well as elections for governor, lieutenant governor, and New York State attorney general. This is why, after two very busy years, many have welcomed this slow 2019 election cycle, which has felt like a chance for everyone to catch their collective breath before what promises to be a wild year ahead.
All of us are very aware of the looming presidential election, as well as the fact that all of the House reps, state senators and assembly members we elected in 2018 will be up for reelection in 2020. But, I don’t think many realize just how long it will be until we have another slow year like 2019.
After we survive 2020, all city races will again be contested in 2021, but what most may not be aware of is that due to the redistricting that follows the census, every 20 years council members are elected to two-year terms. This will be the case in 2021, which means that after another even-numbered year with congressional and state legislature races in 2022, in addition to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand running for reelection, 2023 will find all City Council offices up for grabs, once again for two-year terms.
2024 will bring another presidential election cycle, along with all the other races that occur in even-numbered years, as well as the election for Sen. Chuck Schumer’s seat. In 2025, mayor will be on the ballot again, along with borough presidents, all the other citywide offices, and City Council races for the third time in a five-year span.
In fact, it won’t be until 2027 until there is another electoral year that is as quiet as 2019. Now is the time to finish recharging the battery in preparation for what will be a busy year ahead or, more precisely, a busy seven years ahead.
