Election Day ballot questions cover constitutional convention and more

New Yorkers have some big decisions to make on Tuesday. 

The back of the ballot has three important questions for voters to answer. And while New Yorkers may have heard about the so-called “Con Con” debate, many may not know the nuances of that discussion or the two other questions.

Here is a primer on the three referendums on the ballot this Election Day:

1. ‘Shall there be a convention to revise the Constitution and amend the same?’

The “Con Con” question may have a cutesy nickname, but opponents and supporters are in a fierce battle over whether New Yorkers should seize the opportunity available every 20 years to hold a constitutional convention.

People who want the convention, such as the good government group Citizens Union, believe it is the only way to reform what ails Albany. Supporters point to the continuing dysfunction and corruption scandals in the State Legislature.

Citizens Union said a convention would open up the constitution and “make much-needed reforms to improve the performance of our state government, strengthen the integrity of our political institutions and reform our broken 20th-century voting and electoral systems.”

There is strong opposition from public labor unions, who are urging their members to vote no. They believe a convention would allow wholesale changes to pensions and other long-held protections for civil servants.

The New York Civil Liberties Union is also opposed to the convention, making them unlikely allies with the city’s police unions.

“It puts the entire document, everything that is written into our state’s fundamental law up for grabs,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a message on the group’s Facebook page. “We would be putting all of our fundamental rights as New Yorkers on the block to be decided by a group of people that is really not a reflection of the people of the state of New York.”

If the majority of voters decide there should be a constitutional convention, New Yorkers who are interested in being a delegate have a year to campaign. Voters in each of the 63 state Senate districts will elect three delegates to represent their interests at the convention during the general election on Nov. 6, 2018. Fifteen statewide delegates will also be voted on.

Once elected, delegates set their own rules, hire their own staff and receive the pay of a legislator, currently about $79,000.

The 204 delegates would then begin their work in April 2019, discussing how to reform the constitution and proposing amendments. The delegates decide what amendments will appear on the ballot by majority vote.

2.‘(Should there) be an amendment to allow the complete or partial forfeiture of a public officer’s pension if he or she is convicted of a certain type of felony?’

This change would impact elected officials and many appointed government officials who are convicted of a felony crime that “has a direct and actual relationship to the public officer’s official duties.”

Currently, only public officials who took office after 2010 can risk losing their pensions if they are convicted of certain felony crimes, according to watchdog organization the New York Public Interest Research Group. This change — if approved by voters — would allow courts to reduce or revoke a pension for officials who took office before 2011. But it would only cover crimes that take place on or after Jan. 1, 2018.

The push for this amendment came after more than two dozen elected officials were charged, convicted or sanctioned for corruption charges, but still received their full pensions.

3.‘(An amendment to allow) public utility lines and bicycle paths on certain state lands in the forest preserve and establishing a forest preserve health and safety land account.’

Preserving the state’s forests is something many New Yorkers take very seriously. But in some cases, protected land forces municipalities to contend with costly delays in building water wells and fixing hazardous roads.

According to the New York State Board of Elections, the amendment would create a land bank with up to 250 acres of forest that could offset preserved land that municipalities cannot avoid doing work on because of a specific “health and safety” need.

Voting yes on this amendment also permits the construction of bike paths and utility lines on some highways that cross preserved land.

More information about the ballot questions can be found on the New York State Board of Elections website and in the New York Public Interest Research Group’s voter guide.

With Lauren Cook