A lawsuit filed in Staten Island on June 30 is trying to keep a proposal for open primaries and nonpartisan local elections on New York City’s November 2026 ballot, and it names Mayor Zohran Mamdani as one of the parties it wants a judge to rein in.
The case was first reported by the New York Parrot, which reviewed a three-page Order to Show Cause filed with the Richmond County Clerk. The petitioners are the New York City Charter Revision Commission and 13 people: Denis M. Hughes, Ismael Claudio, Betsy Gotbaum, Tashyra Ayers, Peter Koo, Kayla Mamelak Altus, Gilford Monrose, Sheikh Musa Drammeh, Menashe Shapiro, Jackie Rowe Adams, David Paterson, Vito Fossella and Vickie Paladino. The respondents are the State of New York, the City of New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mamdani, City Clerk Michael McSweeney and the New York City Board of Elections.
The Charter Revision Commission wants to put a City Charter amendment in front of voters that would establish open primaries and nonpartisan local elections for city offices. That would let every registered voter cast a ballot in a primary regardless of party. New York currently runs closed primaries, so only registered members of a party get to vote in that party’s primary. In a city this heavily Democratic, the primary is often where the race is decided. Supporters of the change argue the current setup shuts out independent voters and gives party primaries outsized power.
The petition asks the court to declare a piece of state law, described in the filing as the “Nullification Provision” in Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2026, unconstitutional under both the New York Constitution and the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The filing argues that provision was applied retroactively to target the Commission and should be treated as void.
The filing asks the court to annul what it calls Mamdani’s action to disband or dissolve the Commission, language the petition describes as arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and beyond lawful authority. The petition asks the court to bar Mamdani from interfering with the Commission’s work, including its push to get the open primaries measure on the ballot. Whether the mayor actually moved to dissolve the Commission is an allegation made in the filing, not an established fact reported elsewhere.
The petition seeks to compel City Clerk Michael McSweeney to certify and transmit the proposal and related materials to the Board of Elections by August 3, and to direct the Board to accept, process and place the measure on the November 2026 general election ballot.
The Order to Show Cause was signed by Hon. Ralph J. Porzio, and dated June 30 in Richmond County. It set an in-person appearance for July 16 at 2:45 p.m. in Room 430 of the courthouse at 26 Central Avenue on Staten Island, where the court was expected to hear arguments on whether the Commission’s proposal can keep moving toward November.
If the measure makes the ballot and voters approve it, open primaries and nonpartisan local elections would change how every New Yorker, including voters across Brooklyn, picks local leaders.
Featured image: Bushwick Daily image
