Public, transparent process will increase oversight of appointments to the Board of Elections that are directly appointed by a Council’s political party

City Hall- Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, along with Rules, Privileges and Elections Committee Chair Brad Lander and Council Members today announced a series of reforms to increase transparency and oversight of direct appointments to the New York City Board of Elections.

For the first time ever, the Council will conduct a public, transparent process, including a public hearing on September 17th, to consider direct appointments to the Board of Elections by the Council’s political party, including:

• Convening a public hearing of the Council’s Committee on Rules, Privileges and Elections, at which candidates will testify and answer questions, and where the public will have an opportunity to testify
• Providing potential appointees with a detailed written questionnaire which will be available at the public hearing
• Asking nominees to review and analyze the NYC Department of Investigation’s report on problems at the Board of Elections

“The City Council takes its role in appointing new commissioners to the Board of Elections extremely seriously and the reforms the Council has put in place will ensure the appointment process is fair, transparent and public,” said Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “I thank Council Member Lander and my Council colleagues for their efforts to bring needed changes to the Board of Elections.”

“I’m proud of the reforms the City Council has put in place to make the Board of Elections appointment process more transparent, including the first ever public hearing,” said Council Member Brad Lander. “These reforms show how serious the Council is about fair elections, and will help bring long overdue changes to the BOE. I want to thank Speaker Mark-Viverito and my Council colleagues for their leadership on this important issue.”

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