NEW YORK CITY —The New York Working Families Party is a coalition of community organizations, labor unions and individual members, comprising over 257,000 New Yorkers. Jasmine Gripper, Director of the New York Working Families Party (NYWFP), released the following statement:

“The NYWFP has been steadfast in its commitment to expanding participation and access to our democracy. Cycle after cycle, we are continuously focused on increasing voter turnout and engagement in our democratic elections. There is no evidence that open primaries are an electoral reform that will increase participation. Political parties provide valuable insight into candidate values and alignment to help inform voters. Political parties also allow unions, community organizations and civic groups to leverage their collective resources and shared interest to propel candidates to victory. The NYWFP strongly opposes open and semi-open primaries. We urge the City of Buffalo Charter Revision Commission to reject the proposal to allow open primaries.”