This is considered an off-year election, but on November 4 we New York voters have an important decision to make about how we elect our city officials for a long time to come. The stakes are very high for people of color, and I hope that you will join me in voting no on Questions 3, 4 and 5, on the right-hand side of the ballot.

I served on the Charter Revision Commission this year because its stated purpose was to enhance voter participation, something that I have worked for in New York as a community organizer and deputy mayor under David Dinkins, and in South Africa as a community organizer when that country made its transition from apartheid to a multiracial democracy.

During the rushed hearings of the commission this summer, however, I learned to my dismay that the real agenda was not taking a serious look at what's wrong with our system. Most of the commissioners just went along with whatever Mayor Bloomberg proposed. In this case, a new, mostly untested system of elections where party primaries are eliminated and multiple candidates from each party run together in a first round followed by a runoff. The candidates would be allowed to list their party affiliations even if they do not earn the nomination of their party.

The new system of "City Elections" proposed in Question 3 is only used in three places—Jacksonville in Florida, Minneapolis in Minnesota, and the entire state of Louisiana. Since this "hybrid" system was proposed late in the commission's deliberations, there was no time to evaluate it seriously or consider whether it would be acceptable under the Voting Rights Act, which protects the interests of people of color.

Proponents of the new system say it would allow people to vote who are "disenfranchised," but no one is prevented from voting in New York. The new system would, however, end the right of rank-and-file members of parties to nominate their own candidates in a primary. Instead of being able to pick candidates who actually subscribe to the ideals of the Democratic or Republican or third parties and then have these nominees face off in November, we will have to choose from a confusing soup of self-proclaimed candidates. It will be like what just happened in California.

The proposed system tends to favor candidates with money who can buy their way into a runoff without presenting themselves personally to their constituents. They can saturate the airwaves with their ads and clog your mailbox with their literature and win based on name recognition.

Another danger of the system is its tendency to reward extremists. In Louisiana under this system, Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke labeled himself a Republican and was one of the top two vote-getters in the first round for governor. We were lucky that he was narrowly defeated in the runoff election.

It is true that Democrats win most of the elections in New York, but three of the last six mayors have been Republicans. In general, New York voters ratify the choice of the Democratic primary in City Council elections. Maybe that's because we support the vision of the Democratic Party. One thing for sure is that people of color are more represented in New York's Democratic Party than in the electorate at large. We have built up power and influence through the party that would be diluted by the proposed system.

Don't let this ill-advised change to our election system succeed. Vote no on Question 3 on "City Elections" on November 4. This proposal is opposed by my fellow commissioner Rev. Joseph O'Hare, who chaired the respected City Campaign Finance Board, and by the Brennan Center for Justice, Common Cause, the New York Public Interest Group, former Mayor Dinkins, Congressman Charles Rangel, City Comptroller Bill Thompson and many others.

And I would urge a no vote on Question 4 on "City Purchasing" and 5 on "Government Administration" because these are issues that should be decided by negotiations between the mayor and the City Council. That's what representative government is for. Voting no also sends a message to the mayor to stop abusing the process of charter revision to advance his own agenda. We should only have charter revision commissions when there is broad agreement that there is no other way to achieve the changes we need and there is a groundswell from the public for change.

We do need improvements in our election system. I am working with many of the good-government groups in the city to achieve same-day voter registration, extended voting days and allowing non-federal citizens of New York to be able to participate in local elections. But these important issues will not be on the ballot this year. So this November 4, the best we can do is vote no to charter revision.

Charter Revision Commissioner Bill Lynch was deputy mayor under David Dinkins and is now the president of Bill Lynch Associates, based in Harlem.