Voter Participation Requested for the June 2024 Democratic Primary

By Mary Alice Miller
Early Voting for the 2024 June Primary starts June 15. Nominations for Representative in Congress, Member of the Assembly, State Senator, District Leader, Judge of the Civil Court, State Committee, and Delegate to Judicial Convention are the offices and positions that were available for petitioning.

If you don’t see an office on your ballot, it is because the candidate who secured one party nomination is running uncontested. Congressional members Hakeem Jeffries and Yvette Clarke will not be on the ballot because they are running unopposed. The same applies to central Brooklyn’s State Senate seats and most of the assembly seats.

According to the Board of Elections Primary Contest List printed on May 17, 2024, Boroughwide in Brooklyn, there is one race for Congress (10th Congressional District), one State Senator (59th SD), four contested Assembly races (41, 50, 52, and 56th ADs), six State Committee races (43, 46, 50, 52, 55, and 59 ADs), four Delegate to Judicial Convention races and Alternate Delegate to Judicial Convention (43, 46, 49, 58 ADs), and 13 County Committee races in select Election Districts (42, 43, 46, 48, 49, 50, 52, 54, 55, 57, 58, 59, and 60 ADs).

Due to a few up ballot contested primary races, some Brooklyn voters may not have a primary conducted in their district at all. To avoid confusion, please contact the Brooklyn Board of Elections prior to going out to vote to make sure of the availability and location of a primary in your district.

The hottest (and only) assembly seat challenge is taking place in Bedford Stuyvesant/ Crown Heights. Eon Huntley is challenging Incumbent Assemblywoman Stefani Zinerman for the 56th Assembly District.

“It’s a no-brainer that Stefani Zinerman should be re-elected. Her work in the district and in Albany that she has done for the district’s residents speaks for itself. It is an insult to this community that DSA would run someone who is not a registered voter in this district. He lives in the 57th district and has done no community work in the 56th assembly district,” said Henry Butler, 56th AD Male District Leader and president of the Vanguard Independent Democratic Association.

“It is time that we start calling out DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) for always targeting Democratic black women elected officials. They seem to be the only ones who don’t understand that Black women are the backbone and the heart and soul of the Democratic party, “ added Butler. “My message to us, the community of Bed Stuy/north Crown Heights: If we want to maintain control of our communities and not let outsiders take it over, we must come out to vote to support and re-elect Assemblywoman Stefani Zimmerman.

In another Bed Stuy race, Janice Robinson and Kenneth Gayle are running for Judge of the Civil Court, 6th Municipal Court District.
Akel Williams, Sarana Purcell, and Anthony Beckford are running for State Committee, 43rd Assembly District in East Flatbush. Only two can be elected.
Darlene Mealy, Clifton A. Hinton, Dion C. Quamina, and Anthony T. Jones are running for State Committee, 55th Assembly District in Brownsville. Darlene Mealy and Anthony Jones are incumbents. Only two are to be elected.

Canarsie
Roxanne Persaud, Raquel A. Williams, and Frank Seddio are running for State Committee, 59th Assembly District. Only two are to be elected.
There are various groups of candidates who are running for County Committee, Judicial Delegate, and Alternate Judicial Delegate.
According to repyourblock.com, the Democratic Party is governed by committees of registered Democrats, from the National Committee level down to State Committees and then to local community levels.

In New York State, the County Committee is the most local, ground level of party governance. And in New York City, each borough has its own County Committee. Brooklyn’s is the Kings County Democratic Party.

Kings County is organized into 21 Assembly Districts (ADs). Each AD is divided into Election Districts (EDs), which comprise just a few city blocks. Each ED has 2-4 representatives in the general membership of the County Committee, so when all the seats in Brooklyn are filled, there are approximately 3800 members (as of 2022 redistricting).

Unfortunately, according to repyourblock.com, many of these seats are left unfilled, undermining the goal of board participation in county decision-making. Ideally, a full County Committee will have every seat filled and each Assembly District properly represented by its residents and District Leaders.

A County Committee member attends one to two meetings per year, elects party leadership, helps fill judicial vacancies, chooses the Democratic nominee in state special elections, and votes on matters brought to the committee, including party rules.
A New York City Judicial Delegate is a position voters elect to nominate judges. The sole function of a judicial delegate (or an alternative in the event the judicial delegate is unavailable) is to represent their district at the Judicial Nominating Convention. At this convention, delegates vote to nominate judges to the NY State Supreme Court. The judges selected will then appear on voter ballots in the general election. The winner of that election will serve as a Supreme Court Justice for a 14-year term.

New York Supreme Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction. It is the highest trial court in the state and hears a wide variety of civil and criminal cases. It has broad authority over many types of cases, including high dollar civil lawsuits, criminal prosecutions, divorce proceedings, and family law matters. New York Supreme Courts are not New York’s courts of last resort. That is the Court of Appeals. In order to serve on the Court of Appeals the judge must first serve on the Supreme Court.