Report on Delegate Selection Procedures for the NYS Constitutional Convention

SUMMARY

The Task Force on the New York State Constitutional Convention (Margaret Dale & Hon. Michael Sonberg, Co-Chairs) issued a Report on Delegate Selection Procedures. In November 2017, New York State voters will be asked whether the state should convene a constitutional convention to amend the state constitution. This question is placed on the ballot every 20 years. Should voters approve calling a convention next year, delegates to the convention would be elected in 2018. This report examines the procedures currently in place for selecting delegates to the convention and makes certain recommendations for statutory change, with an eye towards making the process more open, less subject to the control of political leaders and more likely to result in a convention reflective of the will of the State’s population. Although the Task Force would urge that such procedural changes be enacted prior to the election of delegates, it also emphasized that such a consideration should not be a determining factor when weighing whether to recommend that a constitutional convention be held.