New poll on constitutional convention

FRITZ MAYER
Posted 9/13/17

NEW YORK STATE — A majority of voters in New York State remained unaware that the ballot in the November election will ask voters if the state should have a constitutional convention (ConCon), …

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New poll on constitutional convention

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NEW YORK STATE — A majority of voters in New York State remained unaware that the ballot in the November election will ask voters if the state should have a constitutional convention (ConCon), according to a new poll released on September 5. Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg reports that one-fifth of voters—up from 14% in July—have read or heard at least something about the ConCon vote in November, however, 58%—down from 67 percent—still say they’ve heard nothing.”

“Registered voters—not likely November voters—now support ConCon by a relatively narrow 45-33%, with 22% undecided, largely unchanged from 47-34% support in July,” Greenberg said. “Compared to July, support is down among Democrats—from 30 points to now 13 points—up among Republicans to now breakeven, and strongest with independents, 52-30%.

If the vote mirrors what happened to a vote on the same question in 1997, just before the vote there will be a flood of TV ads urging voters to turn thumbs down on the question. Many of the ads will be paid for by teachers’ unions and other unions, which have expressed concern that their state pensions could be revoked in a runaway convention taken over by special interests.

This assertion, however has been disputed by many constitutional convention experts, including Peter J. Galie and Christopher Bopst. They wrote for the SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government in July, “The most irresponsible assertion being perpetrated by convention opponents is that the pensions of existing and retired public employees could ‘vanish’ if a constitutional convention were to be held. This is patently false. Existing public employee and retiree pensions are protected by both federal and state law.

“The U.S. Constitution has a provision known as the Contract Clause, which prohibits states from doing precisely what is feared—retroactively changing the terms of existing contracts.”

Still, the unions along with the leaders of the House and Senate, and the Conservative Party, will be campaigning to defeat the convention.

A short history of constitutional conventions in the state authored by Galie and Bopst (tinyurl.com/yclyl rm7) shows that when voters have voted for changes to the constitution in the past, the changes have typically resulted in more rights for people.

At the constitutional convention of 1894, the State Forest Preserve was given indefinite protection and convict labor in prison was abolished; the voters approved these proposed amendments.

In the 1938 convention, the delegates approved the adoption of amendments that authorized the state to create a Social Security program and gave additional rights to workers on public works projects. The voters approved six of the nine amendments proposed that year.

In the 1967 constitutional convention, the delegates came up with a number of amendments, two of which would have had the state assume the total cost for the court system, and have the state also administer welfare programs. But all of the amendments were bundled together in an all-or-nothing vote.  Some of the amendments were not popular, and the voters said “no” to all.

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