Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig Rails Against "Bullshit" New York Primary Election
Vampire Weekend‘s Ezra Koenig has been a vocal supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, playing at rallies in New York and Iowa, and talking about him on CNN and Beats 1. But he’s very frustrated with the voting process in his home state. In a note on his Twitter, Koenig calls the New York primary election “bullshit.” New York holds closed primaries, meaning only voters registered with a specific party can vote in that party’s primary. New York is holding both Democratic and Republican primaries tomorrow, April 19. But the deadline to switch parties was back on October 9. That means that if you were previously registered as a Republican or independent, and hadn’t switched to being registered as a Democrat by October 9, you can’t vote for Sanders or Hillary Clinton tomorrow in New York State. (New voters had until March 25 to register as a Democrat.)
Koenig wrote, “I can’t say whether this will fundamentally alter the results of the primary tomorrow but I have a feeling it will. Either way, this isn’t democracy.” In another tweet, Koenig called on New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to speak on the issue, or else risk reaching ”the number one spot on my enemies list.” See Koenig’s Tweets below.
The New York primary is bullshit. Whoever wins – this is garbage. It’s voter suppression. pic.twitter.com/M4hVyDljaG
— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) April 18, 2016
.@BilldeBlasio you’re the only elected NY democrat I’ve ever met (shoutout to steve buscemi.) plz speak on this or we’re enemies now
— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) April 18, 2016
.@BilldeBlasio i don’t wanna fast-track u to the number one spot on my enemies list BUT YOU’RE OUR MAYOR. FUK THIS
— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) April 18, 2016
first time voters could register as democrats in march. unaffiliated voters had to do it in october. https://t.co/N9dSNUbKaW
— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) April 18, 2016
@jitka it’s millions of people
— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) April 18, 2016
@julianakm97 i’m saying that closed primaries are bullshit
— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) April 18, 2016
@justinstaple and it should be for informed, registered voters (like in many other states) – this is closer to democracy
— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) April 18, 2016
@ZachPL @paleofuture many people had this problem
— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) April 18, 2016
@ericibid two different deadlines
— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) April 18, 2016
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