By Gus Saltonstall
The American Museum of Natural History has “enthusiastically agreed” to serve as an early voting site beginning with the upcoming primary elections in June, according to the museum and local elected officials.
The more than 150-year-old UWS museum will serve as a polling place from June 15 to June 23, following a request from a trio of officials: New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, and New York City Councilmember Gale Brewer.
The museum’s decision to serve as the area’s early-voting site means the William J. O’Shea Complex at 100 West 77th Street, home to around 1,500 public school students from three schools, will no longer have to shoulder the responsibility. Parents from the schools — The Anderson School, The Computer School, and the Dual Language Middle School — had previously said that the early-voting period “presented safety and logistical issues that were harming the student population.”
Specifically, parents and faculty members at the three Upper West Side schools said that the nine days of early voting “restrict[ed] nutritional options for students, and compromise[d] student safety.” Those concerns included voters wandering around the school buildings looking for bathrooms or voting booths, and the lack of hot food during the week where voting was taking place in the cafeteria.
The museum’s new Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation will host the voting station, Daniel Slippen, the museum’s vice president of government and corporate relations, told the Daily News. “The dazzling granite-clad center is located on the Columbus Avenue side of the museum campus.”
“We are delighted by the responsiveness of our representatives and the AMNH to the concerns of our school administration, teachers, and parents!” Sarah Babcock, co-president of the Computer School Parent Association, said in a release. “Moving early voting from our cafeteria helps ensure the safety of the students in the William J. O’Shea Campus and enables students to return to the cafeteria for breakfast, lunch, and afterschool.”
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I really wish they would stop moving the polling places. In the last few years (maybe four or five), I have had four separate polling locations—once at O’Shea but this was most recently moved on me as well. For the politicians who constantly scream about alleged disenfranchising measures, they should consider that constantly changing the polling places is much more detrimental to the franchise than having to produce an ID.
My site has also changed a few times over the years. One just adapts. There is no secret to their location and they are strategically located so people don’t have to travel far.
Nice work by our elected officials and thank you to AMNH. This is a great solution. These elected officials get a lot of grief around here (including from me) but this was a good plan by them.
One day of disruption at a school is manageable. But over a week, several times a year is a major challenge.
This is a great win for students!! My kids attend a HS that is an early voting site. There are 33 early voting sites across 4 boros, EXCEPT Queens. Security issues; no support from BOE or DOE; no additional security agents; clubs, sport, after school and programs impacted; economically disadvantaged students denied hot meals; the list goes on. No one knows the issues unless your school is impacted. Learn more: http://www.noearlyvotingatschools.com
An interesting study conducted about 15 years ago at Stanford University demonstrated how polling locations can influence an individual’s vote. The researchers found that the different polling locations (firehouses, schools, churches, etc.) influenced voting behavior. The authors note that this influence occurs outside of the individual’s awareness. Just something to keep in mind.
We already have two dinosaurs on the ballot.