Decision 1997: Constitutional Change in New York

Discusses why state constitutions matter, the structures and processes of governments, and the rights of citizens.

Few citizens know much about the constitution of their state. Some don't even know there is one. Yet state constitutions are basic instruments of our democracy. They structure state and local government and stipulate the rights of citizenship.

In New York State, as in others, the Constitution mandates a periodic vote on whether the state Constitution should be revised. In New York, a mandatory ballot question is put before the voters every twenty years―“Shall there be a convention to revise the constitution and amend the same?”

Seven months prior to the next such vote―which will be held on Election Day, November 4, 1997―the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government is publishing companion books on the New York State Constitution―one a sourcebook on constitutional change in New York, the other a rich history of the last constitutional convention held in New York State, that in 1967.