New York Voters, Remember to Turn Over Your Ballot!

On Election Day this year, New Yorkers will be choosing more than the next mayor or City Council. They'll also have the chance to weigh in on three questions with statewide significance.

The first proposal, on whether or not to hold a convention to revise the state's constitution, has attracted the most attention. Advocates see it as a mechanism to pave the way for a progressive overhaul of state government, while critics worry it will reverse countless benefits conferred by the state constitution.

If the proposal is approved, it would set into motion a process for voters to elect a slate of delegates in 2018 who would then meet to come up with a series of referendum questions that would, in turn, be put on a subsequent vote by voters statewide.

They could change "pretty much anything they wanted to," Fred Mogul, WNYC's state politics reporter, told host Richard Hake in an interview. That includes everything from term limits for state legislators to the rules around early voting.

The other two ballot questions have attracted less attention.

Proposal 2 would amend the constitution to allow judges to revoke or modify public employees' pensions if they're convicted of a felony related to their work — like taking kickbacks or giving contracts to a friend.

Currently, there are dozens of officials convicted of felonies still in prison collecting taxpayer-funded pensions.

"You might think you would just lose it," Mogul said, "But no. In New York, public employee pensions are constitutionally protected. They're practically sacred."

If approved, the proposal would only apply to future cases. Officials convicted in the past would continue collecting their pensions.

Proposal 3 would allow limited development in areas in the Adirondacks and Catskills. Currently, towns inside the parks have to get approval from a statewide vote to make any infrastructure changes. That's because they sit inside the parks, on land protected in the state constitution. This amendment would allow the towns to apply to make small infrastructure changes directly with the state instead.

It would apply to actions like fixing a dangerous curve in a road or putting up new utility lines. It would not allow any major developments. And the state would replace land used for development with an equal amount of land elsewhere in the forest preserves. 

Both upstate officials and environmentalists have endorsed the proposal.

"In order for our Adirondack and Catskills parks to be sustained into the future, the communities that host them need to be sustainable as well," said Jessica Ottney Mahar, New York policy director for The Nature Conservancy.

All three questions will be listed on the back of the ballot.