Why Voter Turnout Is So Low in New York's Primaries

Another primary election has come and gone in New York, and again voter turnout was painfully low.

Here's an example to put the numbers in perspective: Last month, Amanda Fritz won a seat on the Portland, Oregon City Council with twenty times the number of votes Gregory Meeks got in the primary to represent New York in the U.S. House. Her vote count, 120,587, is roughly the same number of votes cast in all of New York City Tuesday.

Although low turnout is expected in primary elections in New York, there are other factors at work.

Janai Nelson, the associate director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said holding federal and state primaries on different days and having closed primary elections are among the factors that contribute to low voter turnout in New York.

But she's also optimistic there's a solution.

"It really is up to the voters to make the political will bend in our favor, and to ensure that there is accountability by elected officials by turning out as best we can...and demanding not only action on the substantive issues that we care about, but also on voting reform," Nelson said.

In this interview, WNYC's Jami Floyd talks with Nelson about the reasons why few voters go to the polls, and how to draw more of them out.