How are Queens special election candidates ranking their rivals? They won’t say

Only one of nine candidates in the special election to replace Donovan Richards in Council District 31 has shared his ranked-choice ballot order. Image via Common Cause 

By David Brand

Early voting in a special contest for a Far Rockaway-Southeast Queens council seat begins tomorrow ahead of Election Day on Feb. 23. It’s New York City’s second ranked-choice election and, after a race earlier this month ended in a landslide victory, potentially the first real test of the new format.

Voters will have a chance to designate their top five choices in the nine-candidate race to replace Donovan Richards in Council District 31. If no candidates receives a majority on the first ballot, the last place candidate is eliminated and voters who picked that candidate will have their second choice tallied. That process will continue until one candidate receives a majority of the vote.

So how will the candidates rank their own ballots? Only one will say.

Manny Silva, Richards’ former chief of staff, was the lone candidate to describe his entire ballot during a forum moderated by WNYC’s Brigid Bergin and the Eagle’s David Brand Thursday night. The event was sponsored by Common Cause, Rank the Vote NYC and Disability Rights New York.

Silva previously described his ranked-ballot at a press conference earlier this month. He again said Thursday that he would rank himself first and Democratic District Leader Rev. Sherwyn James second. Nancy Martinez, the founder of a home health aid training school, gets his third slot and Latoya Benjamin, an economic development aide to State Sen. James Sanders, will be fourth, he said. Silva said he does not plan to rank a fifth candidate. 

“I chose the people on my ballot based on where they stand and the future of our Democratic Party and how vocal they’ve been,” he said. “This is based on what I’ve heard from the candidates and the candidates who are in line with me when it comes to creating some transparency in our political process.”

Nancy Martinez, the founder of a home healthcare training school, said she planned to vote for Silva as her third choice. 

“I’m not going to say who my number two is since the rest of the candidates don’t want to be fair about who they’re ranking,” Martinez said.

Martinez’s comments referred to the caginess of her fellow candidates, each of whom declined to say a single person they plan to rank.

“I’m keeping that close to the chest,” said Dr. Shawn Rux, an assistant school superintendent. He did however pledge that his “full complete transparent list will be released” at a later date.

Benjamin, the political staffer ranked fourth by Silva, did not return the endorsement. 

She said she does plan to rank other candidates, but she refused to share her ballot order.

“I’ve had many conversations with many of the candidates on the line today,” Benjamin said. “I do plan to rank now because after really understanding the system and listening to our constituents I think it’s important because I don’t think anyone will come out with 51 percent.” 

But Benjamin’s ballot order has significance. She said she does not plan to run in the June Democratic primary if one of her other, undisclosed choices wins.

“The only way I would not run in the primary is if one of my ranked-choice votes win then I would be supporting that candidate,” Benjamin said at the end of the forum.

Local entrepreneur Nicole Lee refused to share her ballot, though she said “at least three people” will get her vote.

“I do have a ballot in mind and it’s a pretty great ballot,” she said. 

Pesach Osina, the Queens borough director for Comptroller Scott Stringer and the only Orthodox Jewish candidate in the race, ran a close second in an earlier special election for District 31 widely seen as an example of the kind of contest that would benefit from the ranked format.  

Osina narrowly lost to Richards in a 2013 special for the District 31. He carried about 27 percent of the vote, capturing a bloc of ballots in Far Rockaway’s Orthodox Jewish community. 

Richards won with just 29 percent of the vote.

So who will Osina rank?

“I appreciate the question,” he said, before declining to answer it. 

Latanya Collins, a special education teacher, rounded out the responses. She will vote for herself, but the rest of the ballot remains a secret.

“I will be filling my ballot up two, three, four, five,” she said. “But I would like to wait until closer to the end before I share that … My vote, I’m going to keep it private this time.” 

Two other candidates, James and Selvena Brooks-Powers, did not attend the forum. 

James has said in the past that he plans to include Silva on his ballot.

A spokesperson for Brooks-Powers, the director of M/WBE contracting with the JFK Redevelopment Plan, said she is still considering how she will rank the other candidates.

Brooks-Powers champions healthcare access in race for Rockaway council seat

Veteran government strategist Selvena Brooks-Powers is one of nine candidates in the race for Council District 31. Photo courtesy of the campaign

By David Brand

Veteran government strategist Selvena Brooks-Powers was working at Peninsula Hospital in Rockaway Park when the medical facility closed for good in 2012.

The impact of that shutdown rippled through the surrounding communities, eroding access to treatment and, eight years later, complicating the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As Brooks-Powers vies for an open seat in City Council District 31, she said she is driven by the need for better healthcare in the Rockaways and Southeast Queens.

“When it closed I saw the need,” she said. “We had St. John’s and Peninsula, but the nearest trauma hospital is Jamaica which could be 30-40 minute drive. And that’s the difference between life or death.”

“When we see how all these hospitals across the state are stretched, can you imagine one hospital on the peninsula? Access to quality healthcare should be a basic human right,” she continued. 

Brooks-Powers is one of nine candidates appearing on the ballot in a Feb. 23 special contest to replace former Councilmember Donovan Richards, who vacated the seat after his election as Queens borough president. She has received an endorsement from the organization 21 in ‘21 and raised $37,553 from 387 contributors, according to her campaign team, though the city’s Campaign Finance Board has not yet published financial disclosure reports.  

District 31 is split into two regions: the neighborhoods of Arverne, Edgemere and Far Rockaway in the eastern portion of the peninsula, and Laurelton, Rosedale and Springfield Gardens in “mainland” Queens.

Brooks-Powers serves as the M/WBE compliance project manager with the JFK Redevelopment Program, ensuring women and minority-owned businesses secure contracts at the district’s main employer, JFK Airport.

In addition to health care, she said she is focused on community development and educational equity, especially for low-income students doing schoolwork remotely without adequate devices or internet access. 

She said she would not have voted for the most recent city budget because of its deep cuts to social services and the postponed funding for a new 116th Precinct.  

“It took $92 million out of the community and that is something that, as long as I can remember, people have been advocating for the need for this,” Brooks-Powers said.

She gave a measured response to questions about the Far Rockaway rezoning plan approved by the city in 2017. The 20-block upzoning is intended to create about 3,000 new housing units, a population increase that could strain existing infrastructure.

“Of course, New York has a significant housing crisis but I feel that development should happen in a more holistic approach,” she said. “When you start to build you want to make sure a number of things are taken into account: where people go to school, hospitals, jobs, are people going to be able to afford them?”

“It’s something that sets out to address one need without looking at a holistic perspective,” she added. 

The February 23 special election will be New York City’s second test of ranked-choice voting after a contest Feb. 2 for a Central Queens council seat. 

The new format will allow voters to designate their top five choices for office. If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, the last place candidate is eliminated and the voters who picked them will have their second choice tallied. That continues until a candidate receives a majority.

Ranked-choice voting could have a major impact in Council District 31.

Richards won the seat with just 29 percent of the vote in a 2013 special election. He narrowly defeated Orthodox Jewish community leader Pesach Osina, who is again running for the seat this time around.

The other seven candidates include Richards’ former chief of staff Manny Silva, home health aide training school founder Nancy Martinez, school superintendent Shawn Rux, business development expert Latoya Benjamin, educator Latanya Collins, minister and Democratic District Leader Rev. Sherwyn James, and education advocate Nicole Lee.