If the New York City Board of Elections were a patient racing from one highly recommended doctor to another without ever getting better, someone might finally say, ''Hey, wait a minute. Maybe the diagnosis is wrong here.''

But, the prevailing diagnosis of what ails the Board of Elections (BOE) is the system. Its structure is corrupt and its controllers are unaccountable. But merely attacking the management of the board is meaningless. You have to first understand who is pulling the strings and why.

The BOE is closely guarded by the incumbent protection society, because it serves as a gatekeeper to deliberately make it very hard and costly for anyone independent of the insiders from winning party positions or elected office. Since Robert Wagner in the 1960s, New York City mayors have tried to reform the BOE, but they have been mostly rebuffed by its arrogant leadership. In each instance, the mayor usually settles for threatening to withhold funding from the Board, until it makes minor changes.  read more »