As a kid, Sumana Harihareswara had a vision of democracy: people in a room, different perspectives, respectful disagreement and a shared attempt to figure out the best solution. Now, as a resident of central Queens, she is enacting that idea in a very practical way — by meeting people in person, sharing information and helping neighbors get more involved in and make sense of local elections, especially in the kinds of contests that receive little attention, like judicial races or ballot questions.
Epicenter interviewed her during the run-up to Tuesday’s New York primary elections, and included a quote in a story about takeaways. But we were so intrigued by Harihareswara’s model that now – as the post-election work of reconciling relationships and bruised feelings in neighborhoods begins – felt like a good time to share more about how she works. Check out her blog here.
In a moment when so many civic fights are framed as partisan, Harihareswara is offering a reminder that, at the local level, many of the most important questions are not left or right at all. Edited excerpts of our conversation:
S. Mitra Kalita: Why did you start doing this? What’s your background and what prompted taking this information and dissecting it in the way that you do?
Sumana Harihareswara: I’ve been working in the technology industry for the entire time that I’ve been living in New York. I’m a project manager and a consultant. In the wake of the 2024 presidential election, I felt a great need to meet people in my neighborhood, to be in solidarity with, and to help do what we can locally.
I just took a folding table and a camp chair out to an area where I knew a lot of people would be. And I had a homemade sign and it said something like, “Worried about the election results? Me too.” And I just sat, and whoever came by who wanted to talk about what had just happened, we talked.
SMK: I struggle with this as a journalist: we make democracy and engagement mostly about voting. And it sounds like you’re doing a little bit more than that, which I appreciate.
SH: The whole point is not about elections. It’s more broadly speaking stuff people can do if they’re trying to help improve things.
At the table, we share from a bunch of different organizations. I make a weekly flyer about stuff you can do and participate in. It includes things from a free concert at the botanical garden that you might not otherwise know is happening to, hey, such-and-such is the date of a local hearing that you might want to testify at.
A lot of the people I know in this neighborhood care a lot about fighting the proposed casino at Metropolitan Park, so that’s one of the things that I have shared information about.
A lot of these things are not specifically partisan. It’s really a pretty small percentage of the time that we’re talking about anything that has to do with partisan politics.
SMK: Do you look at it with a point of view?
SH: One thing about doing a DIY effort is I found that if you consistently show up, no matter how ramshackle your operation is, other people may start treating you as someone whose advice they’re interested in.
In spring 2025, I wanted to talk about the primary elections. A lot of people felt somewhat informed about the races for mayor and even comptroller and public advocate, but almost no one seemed to have any opinions yet on any of the judicial candidates.
It was very easy to say, oh no, I don’t want these people because in each of these races there was one candidate who fundamentally seemed like a regular lawyer person who does public service. And then the other candidate was a red flag.
The funny thing was that when I shouted, “Do you know how you’re voting …” people who were walking past would keep going. But then they heard the words “on the judges?” so many people slowed down or stopped.
People, strangers, they wanted to vote responsibly, and want information that there is such a dearth of.
I didn’t want to try to take on all of New York City, but I thought, okay, in my corner, I can do a little bit.
I have a point of view. I know there are particular policies that I like and care about. And there are some actions or behaviors that I find repugnant in any person, especially a public figure. Corruption, abuse, that sort of thing.
SMK: Tell me how you communicate that point of view, but also other points of view.
SH: You know people wake up in the morning and care about different things. So endorsements don’t always acknowledge that your issues and mine might be really different.
When I was a kid, I think I got this idea of what democracy could be like … a town meeting where everybody gets together and all these people who are from different walks of life and who have different points of view, they talk together and maybe they passionately feel different ways. But they all respect each other. And they’re just trying to work out what’s the best way to do what’s best for us, for our neighborhood, for each other. Then everybody makes some decisions together and then they shake hands and they go back and everybody still respects each other and everybody’s vote counts equally and everyone’s voice matters.
SMK: Beautiful. Is that possible?
SH: We all want a better city. But how do you make it happen? It’s about the how and no one doubting each other’s being there in good faith. I tear up because I got to help make it happen, that people got to have that experience, that electoral engagement can be people coming together and trying to use all our different experiences and perspectives and knowledge to try to figure out how to make things better.
There were people who would say, “Oh, I’m an architect, so I know a lot about this’” or “I work in construction and you know my friend is a mapmaker…”
All these people who knew stuff could share different aspects, different permutations of how the various ballot measure proposals would or wouldn’t work in their opinion. So that was just one of the most amazing experiences of my year.
SMK: How did you apply this in the primaries?
SH: The primaries for 2026 began to start up and more people in my area asked if I was going to do it again. I got to actually listen to a bunch of candidates, including races not on my ballot, that are in nearby districts. And so, I noticed that again if you search the web for the names of especially the judicial candidates and the district leader candidates and the state committee candidates, there’s little information available.
In many cases, the candidates do not even have websites for their campaign.
SMK: Do you talk to the candidates? Do they know you? There’s information that’s publicly available but then there’s the door-knocking and how people feel about someone, right? And the issues …
SH: I care about, for instance, data privacy, which is one of my hobbyhorses. So that’s why I’m going to mention that this candidate should have had a stance on data privacy, and I think they didn’t. People have different issues they care deeply about.
I’m more and more involved in local activism. I have come to learn more and information that fundamentally the people telling me don’t want the specifics to be public, but they’re fine with it informing my judgment.
I have to ask in a way for the readers’ trust when I say, “Hey, I got told something that I cannot tell you, but it influenced how I think here.” I really dislike that.
I want that to be fairly intellectually rigorous, and if it turns out I’m wrong, I want to change my mind.
SMK: What happens after the election? What can we learn?
SH: There’s really no substitute for in-person and a retail-level location. And that is having a place where people can interact and get info and even bits of paper and talk to somebody.
There is just no substitute for it.
SMK: Is this something other people could do in their own neighborhoods?
SH: If there’s not that much coverage of the thing you care about, even if you never kind of advertise the thing but you still blog it on the open web where everybody in the search engines and so on can see, you can still make a big difference.
I would advise if possible: also talk to strangers. Elections are only a part of the way people think about all the different ways we can volunteer and learn and make things better.
