Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is calling on the Board of Elections to fix mistakes that will send voters to the wrong poll sites in next week’s Primary Election. Mailers sent to voters in at least four Queens Assembly Districts after redistricting earlier this year listed the wrong poll site, according to the complaints received by de Blasio and local officials. Some voters have received corrections and others have not, resulting in widespread confusion. De Blasio and elected officials across Queens sent a letter to the Board, urging immediate steps to fix the mailing errors and prevent further voter confusion.
“If we can’t even get people to the right poll site to vote, we are really up the creek. The Board of Elections has to make this right. Fast.” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
State Senator Jose Peralta, Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, and Assembly Members Grace Meng, Michael Miller, David Weprin, Ed Braunstein, Aravella Simotas and Phil Goldfeder co-signed the letter.
Their recommendations included:
- Place poll workers at all voting sites in Queens that have been made aware of these errors, and who have a list of all voters who received the wrong poll site in the mail so they can be efficiently given their correct info;
- For elderly or disabled voters for whom travelling to alternate poll sites will be a hardship, provide a speedy and streamlined affidavit voting process and extra affidavit ballots;
- Most importantly, the Board of Elections must make sure to send correct poll site information to all voters before the general election in November.
“A week from now, voters from all over New York City may be going to the wrong polling site because the Board of Elections mailed them the incorrect information” said Council Member Elizabeth Crowley. “Government should be providing ways to encourage people to vote, but by assigning the wrong poll sites, the BOE is making the process confusing and difficult, which could lead to voters staying home.”
“Instead of promoting turnout and doing all it can to get more people to the polls, the Board of Elections seems to try to find ways to alienate and disenfranchise voters,” State Senator Jose Peralta said. “You’d expect vote miscounts and poll site confusion in some newly formed democracy in a country that hasn’t held a legitimate election in 40 years. This is as frustrating as it is embarrassing."
The primary election will be on Thursday, September 13th. Public Advocate de Blasio will continue to work with his colleagues in Queens to ensure the Board of Elections has fixed these problems come the general election, which will be on Tuesday, November 6th.
Full the full letter below:
September 1, 2012
Maria R. Guastella
President
Commissioners of the Board of Elections
City of New York
32 Broadway, 7 Floor
New York, NY 10004-1609
Dear President Guastella:
We are writing regarding the upcoming Primary elections on September 13th. It has come to our attention that following the re-drawing of Assembly districts this past year, hundreds of voting notifications with updated poll site information have been mailed to voters in the borough of Queens that direct them to go to the wrong poll site.
In just one example, several Queens residents were told in the mail to vote at the Forest Park Co-ops in Woodhaven, and when they called the BOE to clarify, they were told that in fact their correct polling site was PS 113, located on 79th Avenue between 87th and 88th Streets in Glendale, a different neighborhood.
Given how important elections are in civic and democratic life, it is obviously upon us in City government to encourage voter turnout. While these recent errors are unfortunate, we believe there are steps that the Board of Elections can take to mitigate the difficulty that people given incorrect information will have in voting:
1. Ensure that there are poll workers at all voting sites in Queens that have been made aware of the misinformation that was mailed out, preferably with a list of voters that were sent incorrect poll sites so that they can be easily sent to the correct poll site;
2. For voters that will face hardship travelling to an alternate poll site, poll workers should be ready to make the affidavit voting process as efficient as possible and all sites should be provided with extra affidavit ballots;
3. Most importantly, the Board of Elections must make sure to send correct poll site information to all voters before the general election in November.
We hope that these steps can be carried out by the Board of Elections in Queens, and in any other boroughs that might have been similarly affected. Part of what makes New York City great is the reverence we feel and show for the voting process, and we must do all we can to protect the rights of voters.
Sincerely,
Bill de Blasio
Public Advocate for the City of New York
Jose Peralta
NYS Senator
Elizabeth Crowley
NYC Council Member
Grace Meng
NYS Assembly Member
Michael Miller
NYS Assembly Member
David Weprin
NYS Assembly Member
Ed Braunstein
NYS Assembly Member
Aravella Simotas
NYS Assembly Member
Phil Goldfeder
NYS Assembly Member
