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New York's 17th congressional district elections, 2012
| 2014 →
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| November 6, 2012 |
| June 26, 2012 |
Nita Lowey  |
Eliot Engel |
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Nita Lowey was re-elected on November 6, 2012.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
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Primary: New York has a closed primary system, meaning only registered members of a particular party may vote in that party's primary.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by June 1. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 12, or October 26 in person.[2]
- See also: New York elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent is Eliot Engel (D), who was first elected to the House in 1988. Due to redistricting, Engel is running in the redrawn 16th district, and 18th district incumbent Nita Lowey is running in the new 17th.
This will be the first election using new district maps based on 2010 Census data. New York's 17th congressional district is located in the southeastern portion of the state and parts of Westchester and Rockland counties.[3]
Fusion voting
New York is one of eight states that have "electoral fusion" -- which allows more than one political party to support a common candidate. This creates a situation where one candidate will appear multiple times on the same ballot, for the same position. Electoral fusion was once widespread across the United States, but is now commonly practiced only in New York.
Opponents of fusion voting argue that the process results in dealmarking to ensure that patronage is rampant.[4] Proponents maintain that fusion voting allows for minor parties to actually make a difference during the election, allowing voters the opportunity to vote for a minority party platform but still affect the general election result.[5]
Candidates appearing in the general election will be listed below with colored dots corresponding to any party they will represent on the ballot.
Candidates
Note: Election results were added on election night as races were called. Vote totals will be added when official election results are certified. For more information about Ballotpedia's election coverage plan, click here. If you find any errors in this list, please email: Geoff Pallay.
General election candidates
June 26, 2012 primary results
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Election Results
General Election
| U.S. House, New York, District 17 General Election, 2012 | ||||
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| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Nita Lowey Incumbent |
57.6% | 171,417 | |
| Republican | Joe Carvin | 30.9% | 91,899 | |
| Independent | Francis Morganthaler | 0.9% | 2,771 | |
| N/A | Blank/Void/Scattering | 10.5% | 31,292 | |
| Total Votes | 297,379 | |||
| Source: New York State Board of Elections "U.S. House of Representatives Results" | ||||
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in New York
Following the results of the 2010 Census, New York lost two congressional seats, bringing its total number of representatives down from 29 to 27. According to a report in the Washington Post political blog "The Fix," New York was one of the top 10 redistricting battles in the nation.[12]
The 17th district was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district is composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[13][14]
- 30 percent from the 17th congressional district
- 49 percent from the 18th congressional district
- 21 percent from the 19th congressional district
Registration statistics
As of October 29, 2012, District 17 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the New York State Board of Elections:
| New York Congressional District 17[15] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congressional District | District Total | Democrats | Republicans | Other & Unaffiliated | Advantage | Party Advantage | Change in Advantage from 2010 |
| District 17 | 403,656 | 181,622 | 100,626 | 121,408 | Democratic | 80.49% | -244.50% |
| "Party advantage" is the percentage gap between the two major parties in registered voters. "Change in advantage" is the spread in difference of party advantage between 2010 and 2012 based on the congressional district number only. | |||||||
District partisanship
FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012 study
- See also: FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012
In 2012, FairVote did a study on partisanship in the congressional districts, giving each a percentage ranking (D/R) based on the new 2012 maps and comparing that to the old 2010 maps. New York's 17th District became more Democratic because of redistricting.[16]
- 2012: 55D / 45R
- 2010: 58D / 42R
Cook Political Report's PVI
In 2012, Cook Political Report released its updated figures on the Partisan Voter Index, which measures each congressional district's partisanship relative to the rest of the country. New York's 17th congressional district has a PVI of D+5, which is the 141st most Democratic district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 59-41 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, John Kerry (D) won the district 46-54 percent over George W. Bush (R).[17]
District history
2010
On November 2, 2010, Eliot Engel was re-elected to the United States House for a twelfth term. He defeated Anthony Mele (R), and York J. Kleinhandler (Conservative).[18]
| U.S. House, New York Congressional District 17 General Election, 2010 | ||||
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| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Eliot L. Engel Incumbent |
68.5% | 95,346 | |
| Republican | Anthony Mele | 21.4% | 29,792 | |
| Blank/Scattering | 6% | 8,327 | ||
| Conservative | York J. Kleinhandler | 4.1% | 5,661 | |
| Total Votes | 139,126 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in New York, 2012
References
- ↑ York ABC News "2012 General Election Results"
- ↑ New York State Board of Elections "Voting Deadline Page," Accessed June 30, 2012
- ↑ New York Redistricting Map "Map" Accessed September 25, 2012
- ↑ Electoral fusion ruins elections
- ↑ Working Family Party: Fusion voting
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 New York Board of Elections "Filings for June 26, 2012 Federal Primary," April 17, 2012
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Daily Cortlandt "Rosen Drops Challenge of Lowey, Supports Carvin," March 21, 2012
- ↑ New York Elections "2012 Candidate List"
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namednyboe - ↑ New York Elections "2012 Candidate List" Accessed October 17,2012
- ↑ New York Elections "2012 Candidate List" Accessed October 17,2012
- ↑ Washington Post, "The Fix," "Redistricting battles hit a fever pitch," June 3, 2011
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer "New York's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ New York State Board of Elections, "District Active Enrollment 2012," April, 2012
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in New York," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" Accessed October 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010"
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