Hiram's base has lost its polling site

From the Daily News:

Allies of Hiram Monserrate have lost a last-minute bid to have a polling site reestablished for the Democratic primary in LeFrak City in Queens, where the convicted felon enjoys broad support.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Andrea Masley ruled earlier this week that it was too late for her to move a polling site back to LeFrak, where New Yorkers had cast their votes for 50 years.

But she criticized the Board of Elections for moving the voting site from LeFrak to two other locations outside of the housing complex, writing that "moving poll sites is no joke" and that the timing of the change had not yet been properly explained.

"This court is confounded by the BOE's decision to move 6,071 voters to two new voting sites," Masley wrote.

In May, the Board of Elections announced new sites three-quarters of a mile and one-third of a mile away from the LeFrak complex, saying the original site did not meet Americans With Disabilities Act standards.

Voters instructed to go to poll site that doesn't exist

Not sure if Democrats have same mix up. It appears Republicans have no place to vote in Astoria. When they received their notice, it told them to vote at PS 10 (NOT A SITE). When they go to PS 70, the actual site, they are being turned away.

COMMUNISM AT ITS BEST??

RESTRICT THE VOTING PROCESS!!

ANONYMOUS

Things that make you go, "hmmmm..."

Typing in this address in Whitestone...
Sends you to Forest Hills to vote.

Great job, Board of Elections!

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.

Parties divided over polling sites

From True News for Change NYC:

For the last few days there has been talk of creating a Queens "super poll" at the Aqueduct Racino where all the the voters flooded out could go to vote on elections. True News has learned why that plan has not gone forward. The political leaders who control the board have been fighting each other for control. Board watchers cannot believe that the people's constitutional right to vote is being delayed for so long on such an important vote. There is a power struggle going on within the board between the Crowley forces and the senate majority leader Skelos GOP board loyalists on where to locate the Super Poll. The GOP does not want it at the Racino because they say the place is controlled by Crowley and the Democrats. According to BOE insiders, that fight has delayed a voting plan for 3 or 4 days. According to today's NY Post, the BOE has decided on a comprise plan of 3 Super Polling sites in Queens. But that delay means fewer voters will know where to vote and there is less time for the incompetent BOE to set up emergency tent polls.

Photo from the Daily News

Sandy situation may lead to voter disenfranchisement

From the Daily News:

With Election Day less than 72 hours away, the hardest-hit states were scrambling on Friday to put together alternative arrangements for polling sites that were destroyed, lost power or rendered otherwise inaccessible after Hurricane Sandy.

Voting will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 6, as scheduled, but scores of polling stations will likely be moved or operating off generators, election officials said. In New Jersey, paper ballots will be used and military trucks will serve as polling sites in some areas. New Yorkers are dealing with a “fluid” situation, said John Conklin, spokesman for the New York State Board of Elections.

“We are doing an assessment of power, safety, and the ability to get voting machines in and out of the facilities,” Conklin told the Daily News on Friday. “We will decide if and when to move a polling station once that is done,” he said.

In areas of Staten Island and Queens, flooding was so severe that some sites might not be accessible. The Staten Island Board of Elections office had to close. So too did the Manhattan office, which is now sharing space at the Borough's Voting Machine Facility.
There’s no set timeline as to when a polling station will be moved ahead of Tuesday, Conklin said. He stressed conditions are “constantly changing. It’s a fluid situation.”

A lower voter turnout in New York and New Jersey was unlikely to impact the presidential race between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney because “they are both blue states,” he said.

But local and state elections could be swayed.

80 polling places need to be relocated.

Mass confusion expected on Election Day

From DNA Info:

With redistricting after the 2010 census, concerns have risen across the city that new districts formed earlier this year would cause mass confusion on Election Day in November.

But P.S. 2 faces a somewhat different problem. After being used as a polling site for decades, the Board of Elections disqualified it earlier this year it because it doesn't comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards, local elected officials said. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the school is actually equipped with a wheelchair-accessible ramp, though it's located at a rear entrance to the school within a fence that is locked during off hours.

And now those who should benefit most from the school's ADA compliance will be the ones who are most inconvenienced, Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas said.

"It's inevitable that some people who traveled to P.S. 2 will not have the means to travel to P.S. 84," said the assemblywoman, whose district covers northwest Queens.

In a letter to the BOE signed by Simotas and State Sen. Jose Peralta, who represents Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst, the pols detailed problems they say now face their constituency.

Pols said that they have received numerous complaints about the move and have asked for additional personnel at P.S. 2 to redirect voters to the new location.

Has your poll site changed?

From the Queens Courier:

Several poll sites across the city have changed — including 51 in Queens — after recent redistricting redrew the physical boundaries of election districts, said BOE spokesperson Valerie Vazquez.

Alternative poll sites also needed to replace numerous locations throughout all five boroughs that were found not to be handicap accessible, Vazquez said.

“It really varies on a case-by-case basis,” she said. “We tried to make the changes as convenient as possible for voters.”

Assembly hopeful Nily Rozic, a 25th District candidate, said the modifications were “another example of BOE disenfranchising voters, especially the elderly.”

“In the very least, the community should be given the opportunity to comment in a public forum. Many voters will not be able to exercise their right to vote due to these changes,” she said.

Vazquez said it would not have been the city BOE’s responsibility to hold a public hearing or commenting period, adding that voters received notification in the mail if their voting location had changed.

“These are the lines that were given to us by the state,” she said. “From there, the way that the districts were drawn — that is how our election district lines have changed as well.”

And the Daily News reports that a lot of folks got notices directing them to the wrong polling sites.