Mayoral Challengers Submit Petitions On Time

Sounds like we are inching our way toward a democracy with many seats being challenged.

Our current elected
Officials counter with, "let's have elections every 4 years instead of 2!"

Congrats to all those who stepped up to the challenge of fighting the machine!

"I'm circulating [petitions] for democracy," Miller said.

The Democrats and the Republicans are not mass political parties. They are not run the people who vote for them. They are controlled by their corporate funders, who make sure that rich people’s interests are protected at every money-soaked stage of the electoral game.
The Dems and Repubs are Moneypots, Not Real Political Parties
Glen Ford

ThreeFifths, I’m fine with proportional representation.

But it is not the city’s call - it would require state legislation. There was a bill this session to adopt PR for the state legislature. Bills proposed by Democrats, as this one was, routinely get hearings even though most subsequently die. This proposal did not even get a hearing, which indicates the legislature’s lack of enthusiasm for the idea.

And as far as I know, legislation hasn’t even been proposed to authorize PR at the municipal level. Many municipalities, including New Haven, don’t even have viable second parties, much less the multiple parties that would be needed to make PR meaningful.

You and others think PR is great. But until a majority of members of both houses at the legislature agree with you, it will not happen.

Sadly, the only one who has the experience to try and make decisions concerning the management of a city in the incumbent. Oddly, character issues will not seem to be a part of being Mayor. History points to the various forms of corruption by Mayors, in New Haven, and other cities in CT and elsewhere are prone to a wide range of corruption, some crimes they were removed and prosecuted for. The problem, the issue, is the corruption of bias. Subltle, spoken about in various sections of the populace, the abandonment of real problems within the thousands of press releases on actions taken, from going to a special lunch, construction plans, money issues, is New Haven's most important issue. Murder. Instead of stopping the shootings, the gang murders, it has become the sad norm to work around this elephant in the room. Yes, many things can be accomplished in spite of this crises, but can you imagine what New Haven would be like free of the need for a larger police department used to be a containment force for the criminals that have infiltrated governance on all levels. Eductaion, the mayor's office, public departments; all of them short changed due to the need to keep a well-equipped and trained police department to fight the very real problem of people being shot at all levels of the economic scale, at work, going to work, visiting, chidlren, adults, and yet the choice made by the elected officials to represent the voters is that murders are part of living in New Haven. You don't see this in other Ivy League Schools. Princetion, Cornell, Cambridge, even on the upper West Side of Manhattan where Columbia exists and has been made safer than many other parts of the city by a special contingent of police assigned specifically to the area of Columbia, that has ten times more police than comparable neighborhoods in the city. Thankfully the Mayor's sponsors from Yale will buy up the properties abandoned.

ThreeFifths, you can set up a new party at either the state or municipal level. But it is “first past the post” for elections at both levels. Unless a party’s candidate gets 50.1% of the vote, the party gets nothing. Let’s say you form the ThreeFifths party and run candidates in each NH ward. Say the Democrats get 60% of the vote in each ward, and your folks get 40%. You elect zero alders.

You can argue that this scenario is neither fair or democratic. I would agree. But if you want to change it, you need to change state law. And I think you would agree that neither Democrats or Republicans would find it in their political interest to do so. (Rep. Elliott, the co-sponsor of the bill I mentioned, is a good guy. But he is a good deal more progressive than most legislators. I suspect the same is true for Rep. Chaffee, the other co-sponsor.)

I think ranked choice voting would give third parties a chance to win in our two-party system.

Mstata, I support ranked choice voting - it would be useful in primaries. But under most circumstances, it will not affect the odds of a third party being elected. To begin with, for RCV to have any effect, you need a viable second party. That has not been the case in New Haven, and many other municipalities, for years. Even in places where elections are closer, it would require a third party several election cycles to gain traction. Let’s say the dominant party gets a bit over 50% of the vote in an election, the second part a bit under 45%, and the third party 5%. In the next election, the third party doubles its share of the vote, taken equally from each of the major parties. It still loses. The process would have to continue for multiple cycles before it became a serious contender.

ThreeFifths, proportional representation requires using at large districts and eliminating geographical representation. Some voters are definitely frustrated at the lack of response of their local legislator under the current system. Many more would reject losing a legislator they can call as a constituent. And in New Haven, going to PR would focus alders’ attention on Westville, East Rock, and Wooster Square, because that is where the votes are.In the 2021 election, over 1,000 people voted in Wards 10 and 24 (East Rock and Westville). Fewer than 400 voted in Wards 3,4, and 5 (the Hill).

the Yale machine has done nothing but rotate, and that has come at a huge cost to the Black and Brown community, this city should really be renamed 'Yale Haven' because truly we are all living, working and existing on it's campus. For whatever reason, the community has succumbed and seemingly believes that this is the only form of 'democracy'. As Malcolm told us, you have to know your history to understand the origin of a thing, taking that into account, we should really be past the two party system and there is no reason why we cannot pioneer that level of progress. Let us not forget that the Democratic Party was born from the Republican party, which is why when they start pushing bipartisan antics, guess what is really happening? Know your history people, learn and understand the history of slavery in this city and state. Take note from The Korean's People Party and the Chinese People's Volunteers, 'A Letter to Negro Solidiers' (1954) "Does the U.S. government, the government of your country, give you proper representation? There are 96 white Senators and not one Negro. There are 435 Congressmen of whom only two are Negroes. And how many Negro citizens have been killed and beaten just for daring to vote! So much for your rights at home....Both you and the white troops are waiting for rotation. Rotation is a racket and a run-around for both. But for you, it's more so....What do you think this means to you? Don't you see that this war against the colored people of Korea is the same kind of dirty business as discrimination against you—that it's based on the idea that colored people have no right to exist unless they bow down to someone, that they can be killed if they dare to stand up for their rights? A petition to the United Nations by American Negro leaders put this plainly: "White supremacy at home makes for colored massacres abroad. Both reveal contempt for life in a colored skin. Jellied gasoline in Korea and lynching at home are connected."