[mulmen]

That's not how state government works though. Representatives are not businesses that can steal customers. They each have interests they wish to serve. If people are electing the people they want and those people are doing what they are elected to do then democracy is working. How have we outsourced accountability any more than we intended to in the first place with representative democracy?

[chimeracoder]

> If people are electing the people they want and those people are doing what they are elected to do then democracy is working.

New York election law has been engineered to the point where it's actually impossible for voters to have any influence on the outcome. (That's why New York perennially has the lowest election turnout in the country).

Even our primary elections are essentially coronations for the candidates that the parties themselves hand-pick[0], with no real way for voters to override that choice. That's just one law, and if it were only that one, it might not be such a problem, but it's part of a carefully-constructed system that leaves New York residents with truly no control over our government.

[0] https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/nyregion/new-york-poli...

[mulmen]

> it's part of a carefully-constructed system that leaves New York residents with truly no control over our government.

That’s an extraordinary claim. You’re essentially arguing that democracy has failed in New York and that there was some conspiracy to undermine it.

I only skimmed but your linked article seems to focus on filling vacancies in the middle of a term.

Has NY done anything to prevent candidates from getting on the ballot in regular elections?