Tuesday, November 6, 2012

You can vote anywhere, but there's a catch

From the Village Voice:

"Just because you're displaced doesn't mean you're disenfranchised."

It's evident that, a week after Sandy, thousands of New Yorkers are still reeling from her aftermath, many of them without homes, power or, particularly on Election Day, the ability to get anywhere near their assigned polling station. Although the plight of the displaced might be prioritized over casting a ballot, the threat of missing hundreds, if not thousands, of votes has become a major issue here, in New Jersey and in the rest of the Sandy-stricken states.

For this reason, Governor Cuomo, in a statement that included the line above, declared a measure that would allow all New Yorkers to vote from anywhere in the state. But, there's a stipulation: you can only vote for the President and Senate from a different location; you cannot vote for your local elections if you're not in your own district.

Today, any displaced voter in New York can walk into a polling station, sign an affidavit and choose the next President and Senator from New York. According to Cuomo, this was an "extraordinary" but necessary compromise: "We want everyone to vote... But in the local races, if you vote in a different Assembly district, a different Senate district, your vote will not count in that district. That is the downside to the system."


So, if you want your vote to actually mean something, find a polling site in your assembly district.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

This guys is starting to get annoying with that condescending tinge to his voice that Bloomberg and Quinn have.

I guess that is what happens when constituents act like sheep.

georgetheatheist said...

And don't forget that Cuomo is the guy that caused the recession mess we're all in now:

"Andrew Cuomo and Fannie and Freddie: How the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history gave birth to the mortgage crisis", Wayne Barrett, Village Voice, August 5, 2008

Anonymous said...

Thanks an awful lot governor...how patronizing of you!

Albany (especially those crooked Cuomos), have always protected their own interests...$$$$$$$ and power !

Anonymous said...

and don't forget that all the poll workers are sleep deprived and incompetent. they might not have gotten the order and may refuse to let you vote!!

Anonymous said...

But it's so important to let NYers vote for president! It's like the electoral college means anything anyway. "Hey, I just voted for Romney!" "Who cares, you're from NY!" "Hey I want to keep Obama in office!" "Who cares, let NYS take care of it for you."

Layla said...

Didn't he learn from the "free gas" debacle? These politicians are supposed to be so smart, but they appear to have no comprehension about infrastructure and simple human behavior. Most egregiously, they purposely ignore the fact that the current systems we have in place are fundamentally broken as it is. We all knew there were going to be dozens of horror stories about BOE poll sites even before Hurricane Sandy hit. . Stop trying to be helpful, Andrew! You're making everything worse!

Anonymous said...

Anon No. 3:

What should he have done as an alternative? And what would you have said if he had done nothing?????

Queens Crapper said...

What he should have done is have the workers look up the person's district online and if they wanted to vote in an assembly, congressional or state senate race, they could handwrite the names of the candidates and they would count those votes as absentee. If it means a few weeks before some of the races are decided, so be it.

Anonymous said...

There must be an awful lot of unhappy Republican tea baggers out there this morning crying in their beers.

Lick your wounds, lads and lassies, and kiss my ass!
My faith in the American people has been restored.

The power of the gramps' Republican party has diminished, because it no longer represents the interests of the American people.

It has come to represent the interests of the nation's wealthy elitists. This is not the Republican party of Abraham Lincoln.

Thank the Lord that "doofy" Dan Halloran was sent packing! Could you have imagined that lunatic in Congress?

Anonymous said...

Yes, Dan Halloran "speak with forked tongue".
That lying ass has disappointed his even his former supporters.

They helped to dump him.

I spoke with a hard boiled Republican in my nabe and he told me he wouldn't vote for this liar.

"Dan has broken faith with almost all of the communities he represents".

Halloran, through his actions, has destroyed the little remaining vestige of his own party in Queens.

Anonymous said...

LOL!
Which bar along Bell B'lvd. will Dan be consoling himself in today?

You barmaids had better not bend over to pick up any of his broken beer bottles...because Dan's got your ass covered.

Anonymous said...

HOORAY!

G-D IS IN HIS HEAVEN
AND HALLORAN HAS BEEN PUT IN HIS PLACE!

Anonymous said...

A touch of Frankenstein.
Cuomo looks like actor Raymond Massey playing the evil Jonathan Brewster in "Arsenic and Old Lace".

Anonymous said...

GREAT... we are ALL SAFE now. two of my relatives(after 20 years of steady employment) are still without careers since 2009. REJOICE....REJOICE ....NO weekly paychecks,health care and unemployment insurance has expired.

the one with two children are on medicaid and food stamps. TERRIFIC....

KEEP HATING.......DUMMIES.....

Anonymous said...

You are the ignorant hater, fella.
the economic downturn is worldwide.
do you expect Romney to improve your crappy situation?
maybe Dan Halloran will give you a steady job.
put on a skirt and find out!

Anonymous said...

Stop complaining.....you could be living in Nigeria!

Anonymous said...

We are ALL citizen whores to our job masters.
Some sluts get paid more. The lovelier ones have better job security!
Bend over and get paid!
If you like to mouth off, you obviously have some oral talent!

Anonymous said...

It is time for voting by telephone. If you can bank by phone, you can vote by phone. No need to create stupid corrupt bureaucracies.

Anonymous said...

Vote by computer with retinal eye scan ID.

That way you have a receipt in case somebody tries fudging the results.

A cheap government issued voting tablet could be issued to each registered voter who is a citizen of the USA.