Voter exhaustion and apathy and poll site chaos impacts primary results

Queens Eagle

A muggy day in late August was no match for the relatively small number of Queens residents who cast their ballots for a handful of State Senate and Congressional primary races taking place throughout the borough Tuesday. 

It was the second primary election to be held in the city this summer, after the Court of Appeals ruled that the state’s Senate and Congressional electoral maps ran afoul of the state’s constitution. To give the court-appointed “special master” enough time to draw the new redistricting lines, the Board of Elections split the primaries into a June and August date. 

While June’s turnout was relatively low, Tuesday’s turnout in the bifurcated primary appeared to be even lower in the few areas in Queens where there were contested races on the ballot.

And while the borough was without many open races or challenges to incumbents on Tuesday, the borough wasn’t completely void of a real political contest. One of the most hotly contested races is for Senate District 59, a newly created district that covers parts of Long Island City, Astoria, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Tudor City, Kips Bay and Stuyvesant Town. The race features a young progressive candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists of America in Kristen Gonzalez, former City Councilmember and Queens County Democratic Party-backed Elizabeth Crowley and Mike Corbett, a former staffer to former Councilmember Costa Constantinides. 

But turnout in the Queens portion of the district appeared to be lagging early Tuesday, which could potentially serve as an advantage for Gonzalez.

Around 25 voters had cast their ballot at P.S. 166 in Astoria by 8 a.m., on Tuesday. The site saw well over double that number in June by that time, a poll worker told the Eagle. Turnout at Information Technology High School in Long Island City hit 46 voters by 9:45 a.m., also a decline from the June turnout. 

The Ravenswood Community Center, which serves as the primary polling site for residents of NYCHA’s Ravenswood Houses, had logged less than 10 voters by 9 a.m. Poll workers there said it wasn’t just the unusual August primary that was causing issues. 

Poll workers arrived at the site to find that the electronic tablets used to check voters in hadn’t been prepared the night before, as they normally are. At least five voters arrived to the site and were asked to return later. A poll worker told the Eagle that one voter left upset, another voted via affidavit ballot and the others had yet to return. 

“They’re working now, we didn’t turn the voters away and we want them to come [back],” the poll worker said. 

Ricardo Aca, a member of nonprofit Make the Road New York, was canvassing for votes outside of the Ravenswood site on behalf of Gonzalez. 

Aca said that he was particularly concerned that the poll site issues were happening in an area home to a majority of Black and brown residents. 

“I’m definitely disappointed that it's happening in a district that is majority Black voters,” Aca said. “We already know a lot of voters do not get their information about the election, so then those that do get to vote and practice the right to vote then get turned away because the machines are down – it’s inexcusable.”

A Board of Elections spokesperson said: “We had some technical issues with the poll pads at that site this morning. Some voters opted to return later, but affidavits were always available to voters.”

Issues also arose at P.S. 55 in Richmond Hill, where several voters were asked to vote via affidavit because of a mix up surrounding absentee ballots. 

Voters who request absentee ballots are not allowed to vote at a polling station in-person, as per a recent rule change from the Board of Elections. 

In Marisa Osorio’s case, however, that request for an absentee ballot – though the ballot itself did arrive – had never been made. 

“I got it in the mail, and I was just like, ‘Why am I getting an absentee ballot?’” Osorio said. “I ripped it up because I figured I could just go vote in person.”

But when she arrived at the school, she was asked to vote by affidavit, something several others in the same situation were asked to do, as well, she said.  

“It was just annoying,” she added.

In addition to malfunctioning machines, some voters told the Eagle that the split primary and redistricting had left them confused. While most said that they were informed – some, at the last minute – of the election and any potential changes to their district and polling sites, others felt unsure. 

“I can’t follow with all the changes…they make it more complicated every year,” one voter who declined to give his name told the Eagle as he stormed out of the polling site at P.S. 166, spitting in front of the building as he left. 

The Queens resident had been told that he had been redistricted and needed to go to a different polling place than the one he had been voting at for years.  

“I’m not going there,” he said.