Mayor Adams (photo: Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office)

Mayor Eric Adams announced last month the creation of a new office consolidating the city’s various civic engagement bodies, as part of his ongoing effort to streamline the functions of city government and, he said, to more actively engage the public in civic life.

The mayor’s new Office of Engagement, led by newly-appointed Chief Engagement Officer Betsy MacLean, now oversees various city entities that interact with New Yorkers to encourage their participation in government and politics: the mayor’s Community Affairs Unit

Voting! (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

The New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) held a public meeting of its Voter Assistance Advisory Committee (VAAC) last week to discuss the ongoing process of ranked-choice voting outreach and education. The CFB is tasked with those efforts by the recent city Charter change approved by voters in 2019 that is ushering ranked-choice voting into effect for party primary and special elections for city government positions, with the first implementation happening this year. There are several

Mayor de Blasio (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

Ayirini Fonseca-Sabune, New York City’s first Chief Democracy Officer, quietly resigned in January and Mayor Bill de Blasio has yet to name a replacement to the position, even amid an especially complicated and consequential election year.

The mayor created the office of DemocracyNYC to be led by the Chief Democracy Officer in 2018, announcing it in his State of the City speech that February. The office was part of a ten-point agenda aimed at

Early voting at a poll site can be a breeze (photo: @BOENYC)

As election administrators across the state prepare themselves for a second, larger wave of mass absentee voting this fall, officials and voting advocates are encouraging as many voters as possible to take advantage of the state's in-person early voting option as an alternative to crowded Election Day poll sites and the uncertainty of casting a ballot by mail.

Early voting, first launched statewide in 2019, will be offered this fall from October 24 through November 1 and gives all

What voters need to know to vote in June (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

The images of Wisconsin voters standing in line last month starkly illustrated how COVID-19 has triggered a health emergency for our democracy. Here in New York, elections have been postponed or canceled in response to the pandemic. We are taking the first steps towards voting in a new way, via mail-in absentee ballots. With all of these rapid changes, it is no wonder voters are confused about what steps they can take to cast a vote safely and help maintain the

The city focused on student voter registration (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

As fears of the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) mounted, but before Mayor Bill de Blasio made the monumental decision to close the city’s schools for at least five weeks, New York City government held its second annual Civics Week to encourage civic participation and voter registration among students.

After a new law passed last year to allow it, the city focused this year’s Civics Week on pre-registering 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, beginning with such a voter registration

the CFB models its new voter guide (photo: Gotham Gazette)

New York City is home to more than 200,000 residents who are deaf and hard of hearing, and they almost never vote. It’s not for a lack of will, but rather because of inadequate access to information on voter registration and candidates, according to city officials. To address that gap, the city is launching its first-ever voter guide in American Sign Language, a long overdue measure to ensure that deaf and hard-of-hearing voters are able to participate in the city’s democratic

Mayor de Blasio voting (photo: Samar Khurshid/Gotham Gazette)

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced a DemocracyNYC plan. One big goal: “to register 1.5 million New Yorkers to vote over the next four years.”
To make this work the mayor will create a new city leadership post: Chief Democracy Officer. How hard will it be for this new chief to meet the mayor’s goal?

Let’s do some rough math, based upon recent enrollment, census, and vital statistics data:

According to estimates in the most recent American