10/19/2024
There are a number of important measures in New York that appear on the flip side of your ballot. Our analysis and recommendations are below.
New York State Ballot Proposal 1: Amendment to Protect Against Unequal Treatment—Vote YES
This proposal would protect against unequal treatment based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and s*x, including s*xual orientation, gender identity and pregnancy. It also protects bodily autonomy for those seeking reproductive care including abortion and/or gender identity-related treatment.
We support the amendment as it codifies that no individual should be persecuted based on their identity. At the same time, we remind everyone that the best protections we have are not legislative bills but a grassroots movement that can coalesce around a multi-issue platform to defend all oppressed groups.
New York City Proposals
The federal indictment of Mayor Adams and others in his administration laid bare to the world his naked corruption, which was not news to New Yorkers. Among his many crooked operations, Adams impaneled a last-minute Charter Revision Commission charged with proposing changes to the city charter for the November 5 ballot. The Commission’s true purpose was a blatant power grab by the mayor.
First, since a charter commission’s proposals take priority, the Mayor used this to push a recent City Council bill off the ballot that would have given the council oversight over his appointees.
Secondly, the Charter Commission’s proposals—rushed to print with little to no public or expert input—are all designed to concentrate more power in the hands of the mayor. The commission crafted titles that sound innocuous, or even somewhat positive, but which are masking significant attacks on what limited democratic process currently exists. We urge a blanket NO vote on the set of five.
More info on each proposal is in the slides and in the full letter linked in our bio.
