Sen. Myrie, elections database bill honors Dr. John Flateau

The New York State Senate passed and renamed a package of elections and voting rights bills this month to honor the late Dr. John Flateau. It was championed by Senator Zellnor Myrie.

The Dr. John L. Flateau Voting and Elections Database and Academic Center of New York Act (S.657-A) would establish a centralized statewide voting and elections database and institute. Flateau, 73, was a professor and administrator at CUNY Medgar Evers College, as well as a districting commissioner for the city and state. He died suddenly on December 30, 2023, at his home in Bed Stuy last week. He was described by friends and family as a brilliant mind and strategist who helped shape Brooklyn’s political landscape.  

“It goes really without saying[that] anyone who has had any tangential involvement on voting and elections in this state—certainly, in the city in Brooklyn—knows the legend of Dr. John Flateau,” said Myrie, who chairs the senate election committee. “We are all grieving and praying for his family in this time of loss, but we are also celebrating his legacy. We worked with him very closely at Medgar Evers College, [which] I have the honor of representing.”