Once again, the Board of Elections managed to make Democracy much harder than it ought to be, as voters were given confusing directions and sent on wild goose chases looking for their precincts. That said, the Upper West Side had it better than some places: in Brooklyn, a massive voter purge led tens of thousands of people to suddenly disappear from voter rolls and prompted an investigation by Comptroller Scott Stringer.)
On the UWS, several people reported having to navigate a confusing maze just to voet. The Board of Elections changed some local polling sites this year, as we noted on Monday, and that confused many voters. DNAinfo found signs near PS 9 pointing people every which way.
Voters who came to the elementary school were directed via multiple signs to walk up a block to the back entrance of the Brandeis High School complex on West 85th Street to vote.
Farther uptown, some signs indicated that voters had much more of a walk to their new polling sites.
At the entrance to P.S. 84 on West 92nd Street — another longtime polling site that had been relocated — two hand-written signs told voters to instead head to P.S. 163 on West 97th Street.
But along a fence at P.S. 84, signs with official BOE language instructed voters to go to the Central Baptist Church of NYC at West 92nd and Amsterdam Avenue.
We heard from other people had trouble navigating the process.
Hey @NY1 where do I report polling site issues? 77 btw Col and Am has no signs inside or out directing traffic. Much confusion. #NYPrimary
— Mr. Ginsberg (@Mr_Ginsberg) April 19, 2016
Borough President Gale Brewer reported several problems at UWS polling stations, according to the Daily News.
Brewer, a Clinton supporter whose Upper West Side home serves as an ad hoc headquarters for Hillary volunteers, was told neighborhood poll workers urged voters to support Sanders in the Democratic race.
“I don’t know who was doing that, but that is what I heard and that is not good,” she said.
She also heard voters in the Hamilton Senior center at 141 W. 73rd St. didn’t have privacy booths. “They were upset,” she said.
Voters arriving at Public School 86 on W. 78th St. were delayed because the building was short eight election workers, she added.
Did you have trouble voting? Let us know in the comments below.
The copy of my “signature” in the book, was not my signature at all. Not even close. Fortunately I was still able to vote and now the onus is on me to sort it.
Erica, this exact same thing happened to me this evening. My polling station is 151 West 84th St., Frank McCourt High School. I will also have to sort this out myself.
Fast and easy. The system was working on W97th St.
No problem at Phelps House on Columbus.
I didn’t have trouble voting; it went perfectly smoothly, and all the people running the show were competent and pleasant (I got yelled at last year at my old polling place, so I appreciated the change).
But it did remind me of a question. In NY (and in no other state where I have voted), they write the number of the ballot they hand to you next to your name on the list of registered voters. That means they can trace each vote to the voter that made it. I don’t care if anyone knows how I vote, but that seems wrong – aren’t ballots supposed to be anonymous? How is that legal?
I wondered about that too, Erica, so while waiting for the election results to come in, I looked over the New York Poll Worker Manual. I think I figured it out.
Ballots are bound, 25 to a pad. Each ballot is attached to a stub, which remains in the pad after the ballot is removed and given to the voter. The STUB is numbered, not the ballot itself. That is the number that is written next to your name in the registration book. This way they know that each voter was given one ballot, but since the ballot itself is unnumbered, it can’t be tracked back to a particular voter.
Hopefully this answers your question (and mine)
Here is the pertinent passage:
Stub Number – as ballots are removed from ballot pad, the stapled stub remains. The number on the stub is written next to the voter’s record in the Voter Registration List
No problems at McCourt HS. Very organized. I was surprised and pleased.
Comptroller Stringer decides on primary day to send a press release address the Board of Elections mismanagement and wants them audited. Where was Stringer when he was an Assembly Member addressing how dysfunctional the Board of Elections is? He was too busy placing his ppl giving them patronage jobs at BOE.
I was dropped from the voting roll.
Voted at PS 75. Had no problem. Of course I was there at 6:15 AM.
No problems at Mickey Mantle School/West 82. Although it definitely pays to vote early in the day, if you can.
No postcards about polling places this year. But both Dem candidates emailed polling place finders. The address for McCourt High must have been the official mailing address because there was no available entrance there. (More BOE carelessness!) A sign on the Gristede’s Market said “Vota Aqui.” In the dairy dept. or at the deli counter, I wondered. Finally I spotted a hand-scrawled sign directing people to the school’s 85th St. entrance. Once inside, things moved smoothly, the poll workers seemed to be having a good time, and questions were answered knowledgeably. Two different people offered me “I Voted” stickers. Conclusion: things are screwed up at headquarters, less so at ground level.
I was dropped from the Democratic voter register – I knew that going there, though, since I checked my registration data the day before and saw that my party affiliation had changed from Democratic to NONE – and I did NOT make that change myself! Very frustrating. I voted by affidavit, but I doubt anyone looks at it…
In my ballot folder, there was a Hillary pamphlet stuck in it.
Good, my bribe worked.
I endured a nightmare dealing with the B.O.E. for what should have been a very simple, routine matter. Based on that, I can’t say I’m surprised by this report.
I knew where to vote, but I did notice that there were none of the usual signs leading up to the polling place -until I got right there. I thought that was odd – esp since where I vote (PS 452 – 76th St) often has different entrances.
Plus they did not have a signature for me – but let me vote. I hope that won’t be a problem for the BIG election.