Exclusive | NYC Charter Revision Commission to recommend overhaul to primaries, target City Councils zoning power: sources

The Big Apple should overhaul its primary elections and pull critical land-use power from the City Council, the city’s Charter Revision Commission is expected to recommend this week, sources said Tuesday. A report with the proposals from the independent panel convened by Mayor Eric Adams could drop as early as Wednesday, but any potential changes would still need to be approved by voters and would likely come too late for Hizzoner to take advantage of with his campaign for another four years a long shot.The 13-member commission, which started its work in December, is expected to offer two different possible changes to primary elections.One proposal would call on the city to hold a non-partisan primary in which all Democratic and Republican candidates would be on the same ballot and the top two candidates — regardless of party — would move on to the general election in November, according to sources familiar with the matter.It’s unclear if independents would be allowed to vote in that primary or just Republicans and Democrats, under that proposal.However, the other recommendation would allow independent voters with no political party affiliation to vote in the city’s primaries, sources said.A source familiar with the commission’s discussions told The Post the city needs to get more voters involved in the electoral process.“Twenty percent of registered voters don’t belong to a political party.

A lot of young voters are not registered with a political party,” the source said.“Non-partisan or open primaries would give more voters a say in who gets elected mayor.Why close them out?”Adams, who dropped out of the Democratic primary earlier this month and is now running as an independent, has also been a vocal critic of the current primary system. The commission is also expected to target the City Council’s zoning power and suggest lawmakers should no longer have the final say on development projects across the five boroughs.Instead, the mayoral...