It's a primary election in which all voters can vote, regardless of their party affiliation. More here, including a list of dozens of other cities that currently have open primaries.

Citizen's Union, Forward Party, LiUNA, Open Primaries, Rank the Vote, Veterans 4 All Voters

Dozens of them. Consider the 37 cities with more than 500,000 residents. 26 of them have open primaries. That's 70% of them.

4 of the 5 biggest cities in America have it: Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix.

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s 2024 report finds that open and nonpartisan primaries tend to produce more representative electorate outcomes than closed primaries.

• Fully open, open to unaffiliated, and nonpartisan primaries all tend to result in primary electorates that better represent unaffiliated voters.
• Turnout gaps among racial and ethnic groups, especially Latinos and Asians, are lower on average in open and nonpartisan primaries than closed primaries.
• There are no clear trends in the composition of the electorate across racial demographics, age, gender, income, occupation, or veteran status according to primary type.
• When states allow unaffiliated voters to participate in primaries for the first time, voter turnout increases, and the electorate grows more demographically and politically representative.
• Opening primaries to unaffiliated voters increases the unaffiliated share of the electorate by 12 percentage points.
• Opening primaries to unaffiliated voters increases Asian and Latino participation as a share of the overall electorate.

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s 2024 report finds that states see voter turnout rise five percentage points when they open their primaries to unaffiliated voters.

Every voter who is registered to vote, including people who are registered without a party, including so-called “independents”. 

Absolutely, and in NY we propose to allow candidates to identify their party next to their name, on the ballot, so that voters continue to know the candidate’s party affiliations.

Of course. Political parties can still endorse a specific candidate, and support that person's campaign in the same ways they do today.

This would remain the same as it is today. Because New York State law recognizes the significant impact of "ballot order effect," the NYC Board of Elections (BOE) follows a highly regulated public procedure to ensure no candidate gets an unfair advantage simply because of their last name.

In the primary election, voters would still vote as they always have. The ballot would look nearly identical. Voters are given an opportunity to rank their candidates in the order of their preference. The results will be tallied, then the top 3 vote getters would move on to the general election.

Open primaries do not favor one party over another. Rather, they benefit voters by allowing more to participate and giving them more viable candidates from which to choose. It also means that the most competitive candidates can run in the November general election.

Today New York City’s system places 1 popular candidate in the November election versus 1 or more minor party candidates that have virtually no chance at winning. So the November election is not competitive. In the rare instance that the November general election is competitive the system is set up where the winner can win with less than 50% of the vote.

It would allow them to vote in meaningful elections! These are New Yorkers who are registered to vote. They want to vote. 

In other cities they could participate but not in New York City. Currently they are unfairly blocked from voting in our currently closed system.

Open primaries and Ranked Choice Voting combined are an effective tool for enfranchised voters, making candidates more representative of the voting public and increasing participation. Opening primaries allows for more voters to participate. Ranked Choice Voting gives all of those voters more candidates from which to choose.

Yes. New York City Voters will have to vote to change their election system. As they have done many times in the past. Election reform ideas are not new to New York City voters. Since the year 2000 New York City voters have considered 11 ballot referendums related to elections.

To run the election the cost will be approximately the same. The Board of Elections already has poll sites open, and people voting. Poll sites may need additional staffing, but that's a small price to pay for democracy. Any meaningful increase in cost might be generated due to New York City’s public financing program for qualified candidates. But voters have already stated their support for this system. Voters put this system in place to try and minimize special interests making outside contributions to candidates. It rewards small donations from local residents by matching their contribution with public tax dollars.